


Voiceless

by entity9silvergen



Category: Ben 10 Series, Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Amalgam, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Insert AU, Creativitwins, Crossover, Does Not Follow Any Canon Storyline or Plot, Exclusively Ben 10 Universe, Gen, Ghost!Virgil, Hallucinations, Identity confusion, Implied Character Death, In-Universe Explanation, Mentions of Anxiety, Minor Character Death, Null Void, Osmosian, Partial Fandom Blind, Plumber Academy, Revonnah, Roadtrip, Rooters, Sanders Sides as Aliens, School, Snake!Deceit, Species Discrimination, Virgil has a brother, Visions, alien planets, canon-typical weirdness, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23582527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entity9silvergen/pseuds/entity9silvergen
Summary: Necrofriggians don’t have a place in intergalactic affairs but Virgil’s going to make a place for himself. Sludgepuppies are known to be vicious but Patton just wants to make his friends happy. Cerebrocrustaceans don’t have a place in the vast universe of science but Logan’s going to prove himself. Nagasapiens are known as the worst of criminals but Deceit believes law keeps society running. Revonnahganders live strict lives as farmers but Rook is going to reach for the stars. Loboans hide from outsiders but Scout is going to walk with them. The Plumber Academy may have brought them together but they stand strong alone. They’re going to change the universe.Remus and Roman are Osmosians plagued by painful visions. Memories of past lives with others like them makes life on the streets difficult until the Rooters turn them into Amalgams and give them a home in the Null Void. But they can never forget the images of a voiceless Celestialsapien from their dreams. They have a role and a purpose. They just need to find it.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Scout, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Rook & Scout & Ben & Sides
Comments: 13
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to what may be the first Sanders Sides/ Ben 10 crossover. I’m not sure. This fic is partially fandom blind. If you’re a Ben 10 fan, you can read this story without having seen the Sanders Sides series. If you’re just a fander and not a Ben 10 fan, you can probably read this too but some googling would have to happen. Characters from Sanders Sides are being put into the Ben 10 universe with an in-universe explanation so you can just pretend they're OCs but it won’t be explained fully until the end so the foreshadowing may confuse you, especially in this chapter. I hope you stick around because this fic has a lot of world building and focus on some awesome alien species later on. This first arc is mostly just introductions and establishing backgrounds and whatnot. Enjoy!

Red. Green. Yellow. Indigo. Blue. Purple.

Against the pitch black of the night sky, the colors stood out starkly. Pure, solid streaks of color. They were intense and beautiful in the most beautiful way. Streaks crackling and dancing through the air, the sight was stunning but not peaceful.

The crackling and intensity came with power. It filled the air, flooding it so thickly that he could barely breathe. It was overwhelming in a way it shouldn’t be. In the past, the colors were always a comfort. The colors were safe. They were friends. Family. They belonged together. What were they doing out?

Uncontained, darkness reached out for them, trying to pull them back in but something was preventing the colors’ reunion. Somehow, he knew he was one of the colors. The memory flickered back and clicked into place. It wasn’t alarming in the slightest. In fact, it felt right in a way he never felt in his own body. 

Still, something was wrong. He didn’t belong here, outside. Outside of what, he didn’t exactly know. He just knew it was wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong in every way. He felt broken, fragmented. He needed to get back. He didn’t belong here.

The other colors crackled, seemingly as upset as he was. Indigo and Purple sparked like electricity with unease, Blue and Yellow’s paths became frantic as they tried to get back, and Red and Green… Red and Green were heading right for each other.

“Remus!” a voice cried and he felt something. Something physical. Something outside of this memory of colors and the void of space. Physical awareness spread through him and he noticed the pain in his body but there was nothing he could do. His eyes opened briefly but closed again soon after. He had barely enough time to register his surroundings and a figure reaching down to touch him.

Contact was made and the pain eased. The noise, that harsh, chaotic noise, in his mind calmed and the image became clearer. The colors, pure and untainted, became all the more visible. They were agitated and upset in every way and so many more he couldn’t think of. This was wrong, wrong, wrong and they needed to get back. 

The dark form they came from was barely visible against their surroundings but he could feel it. It was there, calling out to them with a silent voice, but he couldn’t find his way back. He clung to Red, both in the physical world and in the world his mind was trapped in. It was a massive comfort but it wasn’t nearly enough. Red and Green were one but they weren’t the whole thing. They belonged with Yellow, Blue, Indigo, and Purple back in the darkness. He didn’t know what it was and he didn’t care. Whatever it was, it was home.

White spots appeared on the black form and the panic just became worse. He didn’t understand what was happening. Was home changing? Why was he and Red and all the other colors thrown out? Home was calling them back but he couldn’t reach it no matter how hard he tried. He clung to Red and desperately tried to claw through space back to his origin but something was pulling him away. He struggled against its grip but it didn’t let up. It just kept pulling and pulling until…

Remus gasped as his eyes snapped open and he returned to reality. Pain shot from the back of his head as he slammed it against the hard concrete floor. His sense of sight flooded back, the vision gone, and he slowly became aware he was in an alleyway. He could feel the concrete against his back and see the brick walls of buildings around him. When had he gotten here? Was this where he collapsed? It always took a few minutes to remember these things after an episode.

Remus flailed his arms but he couldn’t tell what they were doing. Mind disoriented, his motor functions weren’t completely back yet. His hands felt numb. Anytime they hit something, his mind told him he was flailing too hard and he was hurting himself but he couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t feel anything except… except… 

Oh there he was. That’s right. He was with Red. Who was he again? Red… Red… Roman. Roman and Remus. Twins. Now he remembered who he was, he was Remus. He was Remus King, a teenage boy living on the streets of some American city he couldn’t recall the name of at the moment. He wasn’t Green. He was Remus. Why had he thought he was someone else? It seemed so ridiculous now. He was Remus and always had been.

“Roman,” he groaned, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder to try to rouse him. Roman was awkwardly lying on top of him, like he’d thrown himself on top of him when he found him. He probably had. Remus had done the same on numerous occasions. There were no words that could explain how terrifying it was to see your twin, your other half, unconscious and in pain. Knowing they could relieve each other from these horrible illusions was little comfort. It was so easy to forget while in panic.

“Hey, Dukey,” Roman murmured, sounding tired. Remus smiled at the nickname as Roman began to pick himself up. He pushed himself to a seated position and rubbed his head. “That was a bad one, wasn’t it? I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.”

Remus tried to sit up but his body protested and he flopped back on the ground again, ignoring the sound the back of his skull made against the concrete. “Don’t worry about it, Princey. More pain for me means less for you.”

Roman spluttered. “Don’t say things like that! We share these stupid visions whether you like it or not. If I hadn’t come, you wouldn’t have snapped out of it. Do you still want to be trapped in that… that… whatever it is?”

Remus fell silent and Roman let out a long breath. He crawled over, curling up beside his brother on the ground. He made some unintelligible noises of apology but Remus ignored them, taking comfort in holding his twin. His chest rang with that desperate longing he felt in his vision and he pulled his brother into a tight hug. It did little to soothe him but that wasn’t anything new. This happened far more often than he’d like.

How many times have they lay on the ground like this, silently comforting the other after an episode? Remus lost count. It’d probably been years since they’d been in an orphanage and it was only then they’d been part of society and it was only in society people had the luxury of things like calendars. He didn’t know what time it was, what day it was, what month it was, and he didn’t really care. Life was an endless cycle of him and Roman rummaging through back alley trash bins in search of food, waiting for the inevitable collapse of either one of them. Those episodes were what got them kicked out of the shelters each and every time. No one wanted to be around a pair of kids who could collapse into fits at the drop of a hat.

Remus loved his brother though and he knew Roman loved him just as much. Their life was directionless and filled with hungry nights and traumatizing visions but they had each other and that was all that mattered. Life wasn’t so bad with Roman at his side.

Remus wasn’t sure how long he and Roman were lying in that alleyway, mostly because he wasn’t sure when he went down, but the sun began sinking and neither made a move to get up. Remus’s body still ached and his head throbbed and Roman had no intention of leaving his brother right now. Right now, they were safe.

Or at least they were until they heard the footsteps.

Remus and Roman sat up with a start, fear seizing the two of them, as a shadow was cast over them. Roman was on his feet in an instant, shielding Remus behind him. Normally, Remus would fight his way to the front but tonight he didn’t mind hiding behind his brother. He wasn’t quite feeling his usual self.

The figure chuckled and stepped forward, allowing Remus to get a good look at him. He was a tall, slender thing. It looked odd paired with his large, bald head and Remus had to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing. It really wasn’t that funny but it was in his nature. He couldn’t help it, he always laughed at the wrong thing. And this was definitely the wrong thing. They were cornered and a stranger was advancing on him.

The man had thick hair despite his baldness. His beard was dark, darker than the clothes he wore. It was a suit of some kind but not the formal kind the twins sometimes saw on mannequins standing in the windows of shops. It had the same coloring but it covered his whole body with no room for opening. Remus didn’t really know how to describe it. He’d never seen anything like it but something about it scared him. He didn’t like feeling scared.

“Ah. A pair of Osmosians. How rare,” the man hummed and Remus cringed, gripping Roman’s shoulder fearfully. He didn’t like the man’s voice. It was so even it almost sounded fake. Like he was speaking with a… a… a snake or a lizard in his mouth. His throat sounded dry and scratchy. Remus didn’t like it. It sounded dangerous.

“O-Osmosian?” Roman echoed, confused. He reached a hand back and Remus took it, holding onto it like a lifeline.

The man nodded almost absently. “Yes. My scanner picked you right up.”

Remus and Roman exchanged a glance. Their eyes met and Remus saw that Roman’s reflected his unease. He disliked this stranger as much as he did.

“So um…” Roman spoke up. “Mister…?”

“Servantis.”

“Mister Servantis. If you don’t mind, my brother and I will be leaving now. Sorry for the trouble.”

Remus shot the man his best smile and quickly hurried past him with Roman in tow. Or at least he tried. A thin hand shot out and grabbed him by the back of his tattered jacket. Remus let out a yelp as he was pulled into the air. 

For a moment, panic flooded his system but before he had the chance to lash out and defend himself, he was set back on the ground. In front of Servantis. He gulped and looked up at the man, curious and scared as to what he wanted with him and Roman.

“You two are twins, yes?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“Twin Osmosians, that’s something. Osmosians are rare but twins… I wonder what your powers are. You two will be most useful. Come.”

“W-What?” Remus stuttered. The man wanted him to go somewhere with him? He didn’t like the sound of that. It wasn’t like he had anywhere to be but he wasn’t stupid. He knew better than to follow a stranger. On the streets, there was freedom. If something bad happened, he could just leave and go somewhere else. If he went with this guy…

Roman was at his side in an instant. He clutched his hand and looked up at Servantis defiantly. “What do you want with us?”

“Oh, not much,” Servantis said passively. He turned, drawing a remote from his pocket. “I just want to give you a home.”

Servantis hit a button and an explosion of noise filled the alleyway. A portal burst to life before them, rippling and pulsing with noise and color. Roman and Remus flinched back but Servantis stepped into the threshold like he was stepping through a normal door.

He paused and looked over his shoulder. “Coming?”

Against their better judgement, Roman and Remus followed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this story, aliens are referred to by their species name. Those can be hard to remember and not all names have been revealed in canon so I’m putting them at the start of each chapter so you guys don’t have to look them up or guess.
> 
> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:  
> Necrofriggian (Big Chill’s Species), Loboan (Blitzwolfer’s Species), Revonnahgander (Rook’s Species), Nagasapien (Ssserpent’s Species), Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstorm’s Species), Lenopan (Cousin Lucy’s Species), Kuisana (Water Hazard’s Species), Chimera Sui Generis (Vilgax’s Species), Splixson (Ditto’s Species), Tetramand (Four Arms’ Species), Galvan (Grey Matter’s Species), Kineceleran (XLR8’s Species), Appoplexian (Rath’s Species), Petrosapien (Diamondhead’s Species), Pyronite (Heatblast’s Species), Florauna (Wildvine’s Species), Transylian (Frakenstrike’s Species), Thep Khufan (Snare-Oh’s Species), Ectonurite (Ghostfreak’s Species), Florauna (Wildvine’s Species)

Dark clouds overhead and the howls of the wind over jagged rooftops, the scene was far from comforting. Well, no one except a native would call Anur Transyl’s atmosphere comforting. Scout wondered why his ancestors chose to live on this planet in the first place. Afterall, this was the Transylians’ home, not his. Luna Lobo was home to the savage half of the Loboan species and as much as Scout valued his humanity and civilized mind, he couldn’t help but wonder if life would be a bit easier for him and his brother if they lived in the dense forests of the moon instead of the mechanized city where anyone and everyone could come after them.

Not that he knew the difference. The capital planet of the system was where he was born, where he’d met his brother. He’d never dared climb the web-like paths connecting the Anur System’s planets and moons. As frustrating a life of scrounging and hiding was, these streets were home. The dark bricks, friendly yet unsettling neighbors, chilling wind, it was all home and he loved it despite himself. 

Except that scratching noise. That was annoying.

“Stop that,” Virgil said, his voice coming out like a breath of cold air. Scout suddenly realized the scratching had been his claws against the wood making up the roof the pair was standing on.

He ducked his head and put his ears back, whining softly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m probably as nervous as you are,” Virgil responded, slouching and curling his claws around his arms. He looked up to the sky. “You see anything?”

Scout shook his head. “Not with the clouds. I feel like they’re worse tonight than usual.”

Virgil hummed tunelessly. “You think other worlds have clouds like these?”

Scout curled his bushy tail. “I don’t know. I hope not. Imagine seeing the sky without any clouds.”

“There was a night when you were just a pup where the sky cleared,” Virgil said wistfully. “You could see Luna Lobo from the ground. It was so beautiful.”

Scout rolled his eyes. His brother always loved doing this. “Oh, can it Verge. You’re not even that much older than me.”

Virgil’s violet eyes took a playful gleam. “It’s not my fault puppies have such terrible memories. You sh-”

Scout’s ears pricked and he waved a paw for Virgil to pipe down. “Hush.”

“What? Can’t take the- Oh nevermind. I hear it too.”

Scout grinned, flashing his sharp fangs, and leaped off the roof. “Come on!”

“Wait, I can’t run in the- Forget it,” Virgil sighed and leaped off the roof after his brother. Scout dropped to all fours to pick up the speed, feeling a shadow pass over him as Virgil glided down. He landed a few yards in front of him and waited for him to catch up before the two resumed their sprint.

Scout tilted his head back, seeing a ship breaking through the clouds. Purple lighting clapped nearby and Scout came to a stop, desperately hoping the planet’s violent atmosphere wouldn’t strike the ship down but the ship continued on it’s way like nothing happened at all.

“Come on,” Scout barked, dropping back to all fours. “It looks like they’re trying to land out of town.”

“Smart,” Virgil murmured. He chuckled. “Let’s hope they don’t fly into the gaps, yeah?”

Scout shuddered at the thought. Virgil was lucky enough to fly but Scout wasn’t. The massive openings in the planet’s surface scared him to no end. The planet’s core was pretty and all but the idea of falling into it terrified him. “Let’s hurry it up before everyone back home notices they’re here.”

Virgil nodded and fell in step beside his brother. “You told them, right?”

“Of course but you know how they can get. The longer the Plumber ship is here, the more likely some Tranyslian or Ectonurite or Thep Kufan is going to-”

“No Loboan?”

Scout rolled his eyes. “Or Loboan. Doesn’t matter who it is. You know how our people feel about outsiders.”

“Your people,” Virgil muttered.

Normally, Scout would argue but now wasn’t the time. “From here on out, they’re neither of our people. We’re the outsiders now.”

“What else is new?” Virgil sighed and the stone road melded into an earthy forest floor. Scout took the lead, batting away undergrowth with his claws, and led the pair to a clearing.

The ship was landed by the time the brothers found it. Scout paused a moment, taking in the sight of the sleek, black javelin, before swallowing and approaching the doors. The sound of the ship unsealing was music to his ears. The door dropped down, hitting the ground like a ramp, and a figure appeared from its depths.

Scout felt Virgil tense next to him. Despite his words, Virgil and Scout were almost just as wary about outsiders as the rest of the planet’s natives. Having Virgil for a brother changed things for Scout- growing up with an outsider meant having to learn to use the extranet in case anything bad ever happened- but aliens hadn’t exactly become normal for either of them.

Scout recognized the figure stepping out of the ship as a Kuisana, an armored, water-based life form. He wasn’t exactly sure where they came from but he knew that it wasn’t uncommon for them to be Plumbers. Not common, not rare. Still, it was shocking to see one on his homeworld rather than in a picture on a screen.

“Magister Fluca?” Scout called out hesitantly, trying not to claw the ground anxiously. That probably wouldn’t be a good first impression.

“That’s me,” a feminine voice said. The sound of metal on metal echoed through the clearing as she made her way down the ramp. “Scout Alazraqui and Virgil Alaz-”

Fluca cut off abruptly, staring at the two. Virgil raised a brow. “Is something wrong?”

Fluca cleared her throat and recomposed herself. “I’m sorry. I was just surprised to see a Necrofriggian. I was expecting two Loboans. I was under the impression the Anur System wasn’t the most welcoming region.”

“Virgil Alazraqui. I’m a special case,” Virgil said, lowering his gaze. Scout spared a glance at him, suddenly becoming aware of how odd his insectoid features, purple highlights on leathery black skin, and folded wings must look beside Scout’s lean, furry grey form. Scout blended in, Virgil did not and it was easy to let his love for his brother blind him to that fact. He was used to having a Necrofriggian for a sibling, used to having to hide with him from the prying eyes of their neighbors, but that didn’t mean they weren’t different.

“It says here you’re brothers,” Fluca said, pulling a tablet off her belt. Scout suddenly noticed her plumber gear. Stark white against black, it was stunning. His tail curled. Soon, he’d have gear like that of his own.

“He’s adopted,” Scout said almost offhandedly, the words tasting foreign on his tongue. He didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he didn’t know that.

Fluca seemed to accept this. She nodded and turned, gesturing for them to follow them onto the ship. “Well then, hop aboard, recruits. Next stop, the Plumber Academy.”

* * *

Virgil wrapped his thin wings around himself as he and Scout stepped off the ship. Magister Fluca, along with a Splixson and a Chimera Sui Generis, led the way and brought the group to a hallway.

“Keep going this way and you’ll find the orientation room where all the other recruits are,” Fluca told them, coming to a stop. She saluted them casually and turned around. “Good luck, you four. It was an honor bringing you to the next step to your future. I’m sure you’ll all be amazing Plumbers.”

“I bet they tell that to everyone,” the Splixson said sarcastically once she was out of earshot. Virgil chuckled into the back of his hand but the sound of his voice only seemed to startle the smaller creature. His ears went up in fear and he turned around with a squeak, taking off down the hall. Virgil looked up at Scout and the Chimera Sui Generis but the latter was gone as well.

“At least they’re not attacking us,” Scout offered but his voice lacked any enthusiasm. Virgil sighed and Scout patted his shoulder. “Come on, brother. If we get there early…”

Scout trailed off and Virgil had no idea what he was planning to say. He shook himself, trying to perk up a bit. This was what they’d been waiting for. They were offworld, with the Plumbers nonetheless. They didn’t come here hoping to get some laughs and a few friendly smiles. He wasn’t about to let some cold stares get him down. It wasn’t like it was something he wasn’t used to.

Scout and Virgil stepped into the orientation room and were immediately hit with a wave of noise. Virgil didn’t know how many new recruits he was expecting but this wasn’t it. The room was packed.

A tall, green tinted man stood at the front of the room. “Everyone listen up! We’re still waiting for a few recruits to arrive so talk amongst yourselves, get to learn your new peers, while we’re waiting. Introduce yourself, state your homeworld, species, pronouns, age… The usual. You guys are going to be stuck with each other for the next few ticks so it’d be beneficial to get this bit out of the way if you can. Go on, mingle.”

The green skinned man turned away and the noise only grew louder now that the recruits had given the verbal cue for their freedom.

Studying alien life forms and culture was more Scout’s thing than Virgil’s but he was well enough versed in alien texts to recognize the majority of the room. Unsurprisingly, most of the people in the room were Tetramands and Galvans. The Galvan race and Khoros’s main empire were two of the universes’ superpowers so it was no surprise they had such a strong influence on an intergalactic organization as big as the Plumbers.

Virgil also spotted a number of Kinecelerans and he didn’t know if he should be surprised or not. Kinecelerans, he remembered reading, were the adventurous type but they could not return to their homeworld after leaving. Virgil didn’t know the reason- it had something to do with the tachyon field surrounding Kinet but he was no scientist so he didn’t understand any explanations in the slightest- and he had no idea if that affected the number of Kinecelerans in Plumber ranks. Maybe they joined the Plumbers to regain some kind of purpose in their life once they left, he did not know.

Appoplexians and Petrosapiens seemed popular along the ranks as well, the former more than the latter. The two species got along well, Petrosapiens often migrating to Appoplexia as entertainers and the similar cultures didn’t hurt. Virgil saw a few groups of Appoplexians and Petrosapiens mingling with other species, offering friendly greetings and excited words.

Virgil relocated the Splixson he and Scout arrived with. He’d found a few other of his species and pulled the Chimera Sui Generis into conversation. Peaceful species, both of them, but they always seemed to be getting dragged into conflict. No wonder so many of them joined the Plumbers.

There were a few other groups of various species but the numbers of none surprised Virgil more than those of the Earthlings, or humans as they called themselves. Most of them were pale, weak things and Virgil honestly had no idea how or why so many were recruited but he couldn’t argue humans didn’t make good Plumbers. There were more than a few famous Plumbers from Earth. Maybe they had more to them than he realized. He didn’t know.

Virgil wouldn’t say he was disappointed that there weren’t any other Necrofriggians in the room but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t. From what Scout told him, Necrofriggians avoided civilization, opting for a nomadic life or gravitating toward the sacred objects of their homeworld. Not the Plumbers. He was the only one.

Obviously, there were no Loboans but Virgil couldn’t pinpoint anyone else who was alone in the room. Wait, nevermind. There was that tall cat thing over there but he was- No, hold on. He was approaching someone and... Nope. 

“By Luna Lobo, Galvans are assholes, aren’t they?” Scout spoke up and Virgil realized he’d been watching the same guy as he was. He glanced at his brother. “Wanna go talk to him? He seems nice.”

Virgil was already a step ahead of him, walking over to the cat-like man. He curled in on himself, instinctively wanting to hide his face under the hood of his wings but he forced the urge down and awkwardly waved with a clawed hand. Immediately, he wanted to turn invisible. Why was he so bad at this?

The cat-like man didn’t seem to notice his unease, instead offering Scout and Virgil a wide grin. “Hello there! I am Rook Blonko. I am a Revonnahgander from the planet Revonnah, a farming planet. I, um, I am male so the correct terminology is he/ him pronouns, yes? And I believe we measure time in Earth years here so I have to say I am about fifteen Earth years old.”

Virgil reeled a bit at the sudden onslaught of information but he supposed being upfront like this was the best way to do it rather than with long, awkward conversation. Rook Blonko, that was the guy’s name. He’d have to remember that. He wasn’t from a planet he’d heard of either. And he was so young. Clearly physically and mentally mature for his species but compared to someone from the Anur System, he was practically a toddler.

Scout seemed surprised as well but he didn’t show it. He offered a paw to shake, an Earth gesture. “I’m Scout Alazraqui, a Loboan from Anur Transyl in the Anur System. He/ him pronouns and… uh, I think I’m about eighty Earth years old?”

“I’m Virgil Alazraqui. I’m from Anur Transyl too. He/ him,” Virgil said and internally cringed at how awkward that sounded but he knew it wasn’t his fault. It all sounded so foreign but what was he supposed to say? That Virgil was a name a couple of Loboans gave him when they found them on a trip to Luna Lobo? That he was actually from Kylmyys but he didn’t know a thing about the planet? That technically he shouldn’t be using he/ him pronouns but everything else sounded wrong? That was the kind of thing he told Scout late at night when he couldn’t sleep and he was feeling vulnerable. Not the kind of thing he’d tell a stranger. He swallowed and added, “I’m an Earth century old.”

Rook nodded, unaffected by Virgil’s hesitant tone. “Are you partners?”

Virgil’s anxiety immediately faded as a wave of embarrassment and amusement bubbled up in him. He turned away, trying to keep his laughter in, while Scout made a face and shook his head. “No way! Virgil’s my brother!”

Rook looked embarrassed. “Oh. Forgive me. You two share a surname but not a species so I assumed-”

“Don’t worry about it, Rook,” Virgil chuckled. He offered a hand, mimicking Scout’s Earth greeting. Like before, Rook accepted it and shook his hand, smiling. “Never heard that one. That was new.”

“Forgive me,” Rook repeated. “I do not know much of the Anur System or any planet other than my own, really. Revonnahganders are very traditional so I guess I am expecting everything about space to be different though I know that is not the case.”

“Like my bro said, don’t worry about it, Rook,” Scout said. “Our home system is really xenophobic. This is our first time being around offworlders as well.”

“If you don’t count the ride over,” Virgil added.

“Ah. That… was an experience,” Rook said slowly.

Scout flicked an ear. “Your shipmates give you the cold shoulder too?”

Rook looked confused. “No? One of them was on fire, actually.”

“It’s an expression. I meant, like, they weren’t very friendly.”

“Oh. Forgive me. I am not familiar with many expressions either but you are correct about the Pyronite and Flourana not being particularly friendly.”

“A Pyronite?” Scout echoed. “I thought they didn’t like leaving their home plan- er, home star.”

“Neither do the three of us yet here we are,” Rook said goodnaturedly with a loose gesture.

Virgil started to respond but was interrupted by a figure at the front of the room clapping to get everyone’s attention. The green skinned man had returned and this time he was close enough for Virgil to get a better look at him. He didn’t look to be an aquatic based life form but he had some kind of fin atop his head that suggested he was. It paired nicely with his green scales but it looked out of place with his facial hair. Either way, he looked like a serious guy. Strong and well built, he seemed to fit perfectly into his Plumber armor. Not the kind of guy Virgil would want to fight.

“Last few recruits have arrived so we’re not going to waste any more time,” the man announced. “I am Magister Coronach and I’m going to be in charge of you here on out. Normally I wouldn’t be easy on you, even on your first day, but we’re a bit pressed for time so we’re going to be quick here. I’m going to split you into groups and assign you to a Magister who will give you a tour of the station and explain rules and the classes you will be taking on the way. Afterward, you will receive dormitory assignments and have time to eat and familiarize with your roommates. You will get team assignments before curfew tonight. Any questions?”

A Galvan started to raise his hand but a glare from Coronach silenced him and the Magister began dividing the room. For a moment, Virgil was afraid he was going to get separated from his brother and possible new friend but it looked like Coronach was just dividing the room into quarters then quarters again depending on where everyone was standing so he was going to stay with Scout and Rook.

Their guide was a Magister named Arnux. He wasn’t a regular at the station but he said he liked to come by when he had to take mandatory time off the field. Rook warmed up to him quickly, asking plenty of questions about the various rules and classes Arnux explained as they ventured the halls. While it was kind of a lot to absorb so much information at once, Virgil was grateful for Rook’s presence and curious nature. The group was fairly large. There were around three hundred recruits total which meant this group alone had nearly twenty people and Virgil knew he didn’t have the courage to speak up in front of all of them, even if the questions stirring in his mind were kicking up his anxiety.

As they were shown more and more of the station and more recruits began speaking up, that anxious feeling only grew. What was he thinking joining the Plumbers? Sure, it was his and Scout’s only ticket out of the Anur System and they both desperately needed that but he knew he wasn’t cut out to be a Plumber. Arnux was explaining all these science classes Virgil had never even heard of and he wasn’t getting excited over electives like Rook or the Appoplexian in the group. Hearing about the combat sessions only made him doubt himself more instead of comparing himself to his peers like the others were doing. Even Scout perked up when the group passed the intergalactic cultural studies room. Nothing about the experience was particularly thrilling him.

At some point during the tour, Scout’s paw slipped into his claws and that managed to ground him a bit and Virgil was able to focus a bit better. At least he was still with his brother, he reminded himself. At least he wasn’t stuck on Anur Transyl where Transylians chased him on the streets and Ectonurites attacked him anytime he tried to fly into space. It wasn’t great here but so far it wasn’t looking horrible.

The tour ended with most of the recruits buzzing with excitement. Arnux let them go early and headed off, instructing them to find their rooms and take whatever baggage they brought out of the dock bays and to their new dorms. Scout, Virgil, and Rook hurried away from the group, not wanting to get stuck in line when everyone started crowding the announcement boards. Or at least that was what Rook said. Virgil just wanted to get away from a group of people for a bit. He wasn’t used to this much social interaction, especially in such a short period of time.

“Let me know if you see my name,” Scout said as the trio began looking at the announcement board.

“Why me? You have better eyes than me,” Virgil complained.

Scout rolled his eyes affectionately. “We’re not tall enough to see the whole thing. We need you to check the top, wings for brains.”

“It is not organized alphabetically,” Rook added, “so we have to check every room for our assignments. There does not seem to be an easy way to do this.”

“And they expect three hundred recruits to look at this thing at once?” Virgil grumbled and unraveled his wings, spreading them to float upward. He began skimming the listings while Scout and Rook looked at the bottom of the list. It took a few minutes to find something but Virgil found some familiar names fairly quickly. “Hey Rook, you’re in room L233 with… Hey, Scout, you’re with him. And some guy named Patton Mann.”

Scout grinned and clapped a paw on Rook’s broad shoulder. “That’s awesome! Glad we hit it off right away, Rook. I guess we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.”

Rook nodded and started to respond but something caught his eye. “Oh! I found your name Virgil. You’re in room P105 with Deceit Bradker and Logan Burton.”

“Deceit? Weird name,” Scout hummed, flicking his tail. “Hope your roommates are nice, Verge.”

“I hope so too,” Virgil murmured, landing on the ground. The moment his wings folded back in, footsteps roared into the room and the other groups began their beeline for the broadcast board.

Scout shot him a look of pity. “You want to just go to your room? Most of your stuff is with mine and I know you don’t have much. I can bring your stuff by later. See you when it’s time for the evening meal?”

Virgil nodded gratefully and unraveled his wings again, rising into the air. “Of course. Thank you Scout.”

Scout smiled at him and turned to walk towards the docking bay with Rook as Virgil flew toward the dorm wings, turning intangible to ghost through the Academy’s metal walls in search of his new home.

* * *

The halls were long and endless but well organized. Still, Virgil managed to get lost before finding the directory and new recruits were already trickling in by the time he found his room. That meant he wouldn’t have as much alone time as he’d like before his roommates arrived but the flight had calmed his nerves a bit and he couldn’t say he wasn’t excited to meet his new roommates.

There were three levels and his room was on the second. When he landed, he folded his wings back up, comforted by the safety of his hood once more, and entered.

The room was on the smaller side yet still spacious. There was a pair of bunks though one of them had a desk under it rather than a second bed. Part of Virgil wanted to wait until his roommates arrived to pick the sleeping arrangements but he knew he’d hate having to bunk with someone so he quickly claimed the lone bunk. Jumping onto the sheets, he quickly rolled over, leaving a thin layer of frost, and scored his claws on the frame.

“Are you… marking your territory?” a voice from the entrance questioned. Virgil looked up, startled, and the figure held up his hands in mock defense. “Hey, don’t sweat it dude- er, chick. Whatever you are. An alien’s gotta do what an alien’s gotta do.”

“I’m a dude,” Virgil said, slipping off the bed to greet the newcomer. He offered a hand to shake but quickly realized that wasn’t going to be an option. “Uh, sorry.”

The newcomer shrugged and held up his hand to shake. “They don’t bite.”

The newcomer was a serpentine species yet still humanoid. He had no legs but he stood reared up like a man and had a pair of arms. The only problem was his hands weren’t exactly hands. At the end of each arm was an extra mouth with long fangs, matching the ones in his mouth. In fact, his hands looked almost identical to his face, save for the fact they didn’t have eyes or the traditional hood of a cobra.

Still, Virgil was hesitant to shake.

The newcomer didn’t seem to mind and instead just laughed. “The name’s Deceit. Deceit Bradker. You can call me Dee.”

“I’m Virgil. Virgil Alazraqui,” Virgil introduced. He smiled to the best of his ability. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“A Necrofriggian, native to the planet Kylmyys. And a Nagasapien, native to Nagatria. How quaint,” a third voice spoke up. Virgil looked over to see a crab-like figure standing at the door. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by being placed with two lesser species.”

“I’m from Anur Transyl,” Virgil said quietly but he doubted he was heard over Deceit’s hiss.

“Who do you think you are, Cerebrocrustacean, calling us lesser species?” Deceit snarled, the twin snakes on his hands emitting an angry noise. He lowered, almost pressing against the ground, and fluidly coiled over to the crab. For a moment, all Virgil could see was how Deceit’s yellow scales clashed with Logan’s deep indigo exoskeleton but he snapped out of it quickly, realizing he could have a fight on his hands in a matter of minutes. “Just because your species’s brains are so much bigger than ours doesn’t mean you can go around insulting us.”

The crab blinked in surprise, as if he wasn’t expecting Deceit to react. He tucked a claw in and dipped his head, bowing. “My apologies. I did not intend to offend. I was merely attempting to express that I, as a lesser species myself, am not shocked to see myself with you two and therefore we have something in common. Was that not clear? You must forgive me. I am not a social crab, even among my own kind.”

Now it was Deceit’s turn to look confused. “I… What? How is a Cerebrocrustacean a lesser species? You are some of the smartest beings in the universe.”

“True but alas, we are not one of the universe’s superpowers and therefore we are always slighted by Galvans. In an organization such as the Plumbers, the well-known species tend to be favored and the, eh, backwater species such as ourselves tend to be ostracized. But I digress. I did not want our first meeting to go this way. I tend to ramble,” the Cerebrocrustacean said. He held up a claw, offering it in greeting. “Let’s start over, shall we? My name is Logan Burton. I am a Cerebrocrustacean from Encephalonus IV. If we are using the same introduction system as before, you may call me by he/ him pronouns and I would like to say I am around eight hundred Earth years old. For reference, Cerebrocrustacean are considered fully aged and developed adults at a thousand.”

Virgil’s mind spun. That… was a lot of information at once. He’d gotten introductions and a boatload of this guy’s universal views on top of it. Deceit seemed happy enough thought and accepted Logan’s claw to shake. “I’m Deceit Bradker. You were right about me being from Nagatria but I’ve spent the past, uh, year or so on Khoros.”

“Ah. The Tetramand homeworld?”

“Right,” Deceit said with a nod. “Uh, he/ him and… um, what’s seventy Khrorosan tunneler cycles in Earth years?”

“Oh… I’d say about thirty four point seven Earth years,” Logan told him. “The maturity level of a fifteen year old human for reference if that helps.”

“It doesn’t but I appreciate it.”

“I’m Virgil Alazraqui. I’m from Anur Transyl, not Kylmyys. He/ him, an Earth century old.” It felt like he’d been repeating that a lot but it was starting to sound less weird when he said it. He turned to Deceit. “So, uh, you walked into me choosing my bed but the other two are up for grabs.”

“I call the top bunk,” Deceit declared before glancing at Logan. “If that’s okay with you.”

Logan nodded. “I was going to ask for the bottom one away.”

That was all Deceit needed to hear to launch himself at the bed. He coiled up the frame and slithered onto the bed. “Hey, Virgil? Do I gotta mark this with my scent or something? You seemed to be doing that with your bed earlier.”

“Oh, um, I’m not a territorial species. My brother is though so I just kinda do that out of habit,” Virgil said. Deceit seemed satisfied with his answer and proceeded to burrow under the sheets. Virgil had a feeling that when Deceit and Logan brought in their baggage, more sheets and blankets would end up there.

“Your brother?” Logan questioned. “Is he not a Necrofriggian as well? I was under the impression your kind migrated in tightly woven colonies.”

“Um, no.” Geez, how was he going to explain this? “I was adopted by a pack of Loboans.”

“I’ve never heard of them.”

“They’re from the Anur System. Native to Luna Lobo. Well, the wild ones are at least.” That didn’t seem to clear things up for Logan in the slightest. Virgil sighed. “The Anur System is really afraid of anything alien. No one knows much about them so I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of them.”

Logan nodded and walked over to his bed. The exoskeleton around his head raised slightly and a pulse of purple energy came out, surrounding him and lifting him off the ground. Virgil watched, fascinated, as he levitated himself onto his bed. “That must’ve been hard for you. Growing up as an outsider in a system like that, I mean.”

“It wasn’t so bad,” Virgil said, shrugging. “I had Scout.”

“That’s your brother?” Deceit questioned. He coiled up a bit, draping his long arms over the rail of the bunk. “Sounds like a cool guy.”

“He enlisted into the Academy with me,” Virgil told him. “I was planning on meeting up with him when they called us for the evening meal. You two want to come? I’m sure he’d like to meet you.”

Deceit nodded. “Sounds fun.”

Logan nodded as well. “We still have two point five eight Earth hours until our consumption summons. Shall we retrieve our luggage from the dock bay?”

Deceit slid out of his bed and Virgil nodded. “My brother has mine but I can lend you two a hand.”

The trio headed down to the docks where the new recruit’s luggage was. It wasn’t difficult to find it, especially since everyone cleared out already, but one of the Plumbers gave Deceit a bit of a hard time. Apparently Nagasapiens had a reputation as criminals and since he came from Khoros, the Plumber thought he was trying to steal a Tetramand’s bag but the situation cleared up relatively quickly.

Turns out Cerebrocrustaceans had a form of telekinesis which made Virgil wish he’d asked Rook and Scout to come get their bags with him. Neither Logan or Deceit had much but it looked so effortless for Logan to carry their stuff and Virgil felt kind of bad for running out on his brother.

Most of Deceit and Logan’s things were books and tech though both in completely different hemispheres. The two fell into theoretical conversation about something or another Virgil didn’t understand in the slightest but they seemed to notice his confusion and offered to lend some of their books to him sometime which Virgil was grateful for. He had a feeling his lack of education beyond random lessons from the extranet was going to be his downfall so he’d take whatever help he could get to make that as painless as possible.

Eventually, the time allotted to settling down was eaten up and it was time to venture to the dining halls.

There were students from previous years already there but the new recruits seemed to gravitate toward one side of the room. For a minute, Virgil was afraid he wouldn’t be able to find Scout among all the people but Scout had a good nose and found Virgil almost immediately. 

“Hey Virgil!” Scout called, bounding over with Rook and another alien close behind. “See Rook? I told you I’d find him. Hey, Patton. Come meet my brother Virgil.”

A blobbish, semi-humanoid creature made of mud slid across the ground before coming to a stop before the trio and quickly molding and solidifying into a human form. He grinned and waved excitedly. “Hi there! I’m Patton Mann.”

“A Lenopan?” Logan questioned, looking surprised.

“You’ve got that right. Wow, you’re, like, the first person to get my species’ name right all day.”

Logan looked surprised. “Really? It’s quite obvious you’re a Lenopan with your shape shifting and your natural form’s coloring and texture.”

“Uh, Logan? I think he meant everyone’s been calling him a Sludgepuppy,” Deceit whispered but he didn’t seem to be trying to be discreet in the slightest.

“Oh.” Logan blinked before shaking his head and offering a claw. “I’m Logan Burton. It’s nice to meet you.”

Patton beamed and shook his hand. “Oh I love Earth greetings! It’s nice to meet you too Logan.”

Deceit and Virgil quickly introduced themselves and Virgil introduced Rook and Scout to his new roommates and before long, the group was faced with a more pressing concern they were all dreading: how to get food.

“So how does this work?” Deceit was asking as they approached the edges of the room where everyone seemed to be getting their meals. “I’ve never seen anything like this. Are they deposits?”

“Not quite,” Logan told him. “I’ve seen these before but usually they do not have a person manning them though that may be because there are so many new recruits today. I assume they work like the mechanical stations. Essentially you just tell the worker your species or whatever dietary needs your species has and they will give you your options or direct you somewhere where you can find something edible.”

“Oh that’s nice,” Patton said, clasping his hands together. “I like that they accommodate for so many species.”

“They kinda have to,” Virgil mumbled before speaking up. “May want to shift back to your natural form, Patton, to avoid any confusion.”

“It’s so much fun being human though,” Patton grumbled but eased back into his less humanoid, sludge form. He thinned it out a bit, making sure he didn’t leave trails of mud behind him, and tested his hands before looking up. “This better?”

“Why do you like being human?” Rook questioned as the group began walking for the food distribution stations. “It does not seem… ideal.”

“I know,” Patton said, not missing a beat. “But Earth is a really cool planet. It’s kinda hard to explain, you’d have to be there. I guess I just have better memories there than on my homeworld.”

Virgil wanted to question what he meant by that but they’d arrived at the station and a Splixson was awaiting their instructions. “Hey there newbies. Tell me what you need and one of my guys will get it to you.”

The group shuffled awkwardly so Deceit ended up going first, slapping a fanged hand on the counter. “I’m a Nagasapien.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh. Heard of you. Carnivores, right?”

Deceit nodded. “We eat prey whole.”

The Splixson turned away. “Unfortunately can’t let you eat a whole animal right out here in front of everyone. You’re going to have to talk to one of the higher ups if you’re going to get your usual meals but I’ve got some pretty decently sized chunks of meat for Appolexians.”

“That’ll do,” Deceit said with a nod.

Scout raised a paw. “Can I get some of that?”

The Splixson nodded and a couple of his clones ran over with two large chunks of meat and passed them over. “Next?”

“Revonnahgander,” Rook spoke up.

“Never heard of ya.”

“Omnivores,” Rook added, moving to the front of the group. “We lean on the herbivorous side. We eat fleshy fruits mostly.”

“Raw or cooked?”

“Either.”

“Boys! One of you toss something together,” the Splixson called to his copies. He glanced at Patton. “You’re a Sludge, right?”

Patton nodded. “Lenopan, yes.”

The Splixson clicked his tongue. “I’ve got you. Your diets are pretty close to Kuisanas. Want me to throw some meat and slime in there?”

“Um, no. A Kuisana meal is fine,” Patton told him and one of the copies passed him a container of time kind while another copy passed Rook a plate with some fruits and plants on it.

“Cerebrocrustacean,” Logan spoke up.

“Haven’t seen one of you around here but lucky for you I used to work at this offworld Encephalonus dive,” the Splixson said. “Ay! One of you get me some fish. I think we’ve got some fresh muscles back there too. And throw in some worms!”

“Are all of the meals like this?” Logan asked and the Splixson shook his head.

“No. Normally it’s a bit less one on one but the higher ups didn’t want any new recruits poisoning themselves on the first day. Next week we’re going to have the usual divvy up by vorous group and you guys can choose your own food,” the Splixson told him and handed a tray over before looking to Virgil. “And- Oh. I’ve never seen an alien like you before. Insect… insect… Let me guess, you eat plants?”

“Um, no. Solar plasma,” Virgil said, shuffling his hands under his wings.

“Solar plasma?” The Splixson cried, as if outraged. “Where am I supposed to get Solar Plasma?”

“Um, if you don’t have any I can just fly outside and-”

“No! No going outside. That’s a big no-no here, kid. Follow orders, that’s lesson one here in the Plumbers. Now tell me, what else do you eat?”

Virgil’s mind whirled. “Um… Space particles?”

“Oh. Great. Because I’m so much more likely to have that,” the Splixson said sarcastically.

“Can’t Necrofriggians eat metal?” Logan spoke up and Virgil flinched.

“Uh, we usually avoid that,” Scout said, scratching the back of his head. “But if there’s nothing else… Maybe just lay off the good stuff?”

“Do you have scrap?” Virgil asked, hesitation gone. On one hand, he felt uneasy at the idea of eating metal after… past experiences but on the other hand, it’d been so long since he’d eaten metal. He’d strongly preferred solar plasma but he enjoyed something solid that wasn’t whatever Scout was eating. “Like iron is good. And I think I can eat the same kinds of fruits as Rook.”

“Who?”

“The Revonnahgander.”

“Who?”

Vigil sighed. “Tall, stripey cat man.”

“Oh right,” the Splixson said. He turned to shout at his clones in the back. “Hey! You heard the guy! I think we’ve got some old iron pans in the back. Throw some odega fruit in one.”

“You good?” Scout asked, looking concerned. Virgil nodded silently.

“If I may ask, why were you so hesitant at the thought of eating metal?” Logan asked.

Virgil shifted, blurry memories of mass metal consumption flooding his mind and the lonely days that followed. The image of an empty nest that was never used burned in his mind-  _ whatswrongwithme _ \- but he pushed it away. “Nothing. It’s a normal part of a Necrofriggian’s diet. I just haven’t eaten it in a long time.”

“How c-”

“Bad memories. Just haven’t eaten it since our parents died.”

“Ah. I will… stop asking then.”

“Thank you.”

“If I’ve offended…”

“You haven’t. I got over it awhile ago. We just don’t have a lot of spare metal lying around for eating so I never got back into it. Now’s as good a time as any to start again.”

Thankfully, the Splixson returned with the fruit and metal as promised, ending the suddenly awkward conversation before it could continue and the group quickly moved away to let the next group order their meals.

They found a table relatively quickly. They were left alone by the other recruits and while Virgil was sure there was a reason for that, he was grateful. Anxiety was still buzzing through his wings. A group of six was more than enough.

Upon sitting down, Deceit immediately unhinged his jaw and swallowed the slab of meat whole before everyone’s eyes, effectively eliminating any lingering awkwardness. The other five froze, gaping at him in shock, and Deceit looked up innocently as he gulped the last of it down. “What?”

“I’ve… never seen anyone do that,” Rook said slowly, orange eyes wide.

“He did say his species eats prey whole, didn’t he?” Patton pointed out.

Deceit nodded. “Normally we go for something bigger and we’re tied over for a few weeks but I could get used to these smaller meals. I don’t really like digesting so much at once.”

“That was something,” Virgil stated.

Deceit rolled his eyes. “Says the guy who eats metal.”

“And fruit,” Virgil responded and put a berry in his mouth as if to prove a point only to gag. “By Luna Lobos, this is disgusting.”

“I find the smaller fruits are less tasteful,” Rook spoke and took a bite out of a larger fruit. “Try the Figus Plenamary. It’s much better.”

Virgil did as he was told and began eating the fruit. “You’re right. It’s much better.”

Seeing that his brother was okay, Scout turned his attention to his own pile of meat. Tearing off a chunk ravenously, he swallowed it without chewing and dug in. Virgil sighed which made Scout roll his eyes. “Like you’re so much better.”

Virgil shrugged and exhaled a breath of ice over his iron and fruit, freezing it, before leaning down and began gulping it down in a wolf-like manner.

“Well, they are brothers,” Logan said pointedly and used his telekinesis to begin eating the fish he was given.

“I think it’s cute,” Patton said as he drank his… whatever it was. Virgil couldn’t see it and frankly he didn’t really want to know what a Sludgepuppy considered food.

The six continued eating with casual conversation floating between them, mostly about food and a bit about their home planets. It was interesting and all but Virgil got distracted by the old frying pan he was eating. The handle was plastic and that was kind of nasty so he had to throw it away but he enjoyed the metal. He’d forgotten how much he liked the stuff. The pan was cheap but it wasn’t like he had access to the good stuff all that often twenty years ago. He still craved solar plasma but he could get used to having metal in his diet again.

Virgil was finishing his frying pan when an announcement blaring over the loudspeaker system nearly scared him out of his wings. “Attention new recruits! Team assignments have been posted! Check the announcement board, the tablets in your dormitory rooms, or any accessible device around the base.”

“Ooh!” Patton responded, looking up with interest. Virgil noticed he shifted in and out of his human form a few times before settling on it. Why he liked being human, he had no idea but he had to say it was kind of endearing watching Patton play with his form like that.

“Don’t these tables have holograms built in to them?” Scout asked.

“Indeed,” Logan responded. His cranium opened up, sparking a bit. The electricity hit the table and a panel appeared. He banged his claw against it a few times and, as promised, a hologram appeared. “I should be able to search through the data fairly quickly with direct access like this. Who would like to hear their teamm- Oh.”

“What is it?” Deceit asked. Virgil flinched as Logan’s claw gripped the edge of the table with an ugly cracking sound.

“They’re setting us all up for failure.”

“That is a bold statement,” Rook said, frowning. “Who… Who are our teammates?”

“The six of us. You, me, Virgil, Scout, Deceit, and Patton. We’re teammates.”

“And that’s… bad?” Patton questioned, sounding confused. “Because that sounds pretty good to me. I mean, we’re all friends.”

“Friends is a strong word. We just met. But,” Virgil added quickly, “I am liking you guys so far. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“Don’t you see? The six of us are the only ones of our respective species on the station and none of us are from particularly high regarded species. They place Galvans with Tetramands and Kincelerans, Appoplexians with Petrosapiens and Florauna, strong combinations like that are designed to be powerful units. They’re building teams that won’t only pass, they’ll excel on the field,” Logan explained. “Us, they don’t expect us to make it through training so they just tossed all the leftovers into the same rooms and teams.”

Virgil and Scout exchanged a glance. When they’d gotten into the Academy, they’d been overjoyed but it’d be foolish to think their struggles ended there. They knew being accepted would be difficult but they thought they’d at least start on equal footing as everyone else. Now, they were starting with a disadvantage: the Plumbers didn’t want them to win.

To everyone’s surprise, it was Patton who spoke up first. “I know.”

“You know what?” Logan questioned.

“My species has a terrible reputation among the Plumbers. We were enemies for centuries. I’m the first of my species to even try to become a Plumber and it wasn’t even because my people wanted to try to offer the olive branch. Figuratively,” Patton added when he saw Logan’s confusion. “I applied to the Academy knowing the Plumbers wouldn’t make it easy for me, they’d probably try to put me down, but I don’t care. I came here knowing I’d have to work hard and I’m going to do everything I can to make this team as great- no. Better than any other team here.”

Deceit grinned, flashing his fangs. “The same goes for me. I joined for a reason and I’m not going to let any grudges against my species stop me.”

Scout glanced at Virgil. “What do you say, bro?”

Virgil slowly nodded. “It’s too late to back down. We took a gamble for our future, Scout, and we’re not about to give up now.”

Rook smiled. “I did the same. It is too late to turn back now so I will give it my all.”

Logan blinked before matching his new teammates’ smiles. “I suppose I can’t argue with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was kind of a long chapter. This is what happens when I'm in the mood to write. Chances are most of the chapters won't be this long.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A ton of characters are introduced in this chapter. Normally I’d space it out a bit because remembering characters is hard but logically they’d all appear at once. Don’t worry, like half of them we only see a handful of times. Out of all the aliens in this chapter, only like 2 are actually important characters.
> 
> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:  
> Oporq (Argit’s Species), Kineceleran (XLR8’s Species), Tetramand (Four Arms’s Species), Pyronite (Heatblast’s Species), Petrosapien (Diamondhead’s Species), Polymorph (Goop’s Species), Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstorm’s Species), Aerophibian (Jetray’s Species), Terroranchula (Phil’s Species), Prypiatosian-B (NRG’s Species), Vulpimancer (Wildmutt’s Species), Biosorvortian (Lodestar’s Species), Planchakule (Juryrigg’s Species), Osmosian (Kevin’s Species)

Roman wasn’t exactly sure what was happening but he didn’t like it. Still holding onto Remus’s hand, he crept forward, muscles tensed to run if need be. Remus was uneasy but he was still kind of out of it from his episode so Roman couldn’t blame him for keeping his guard down. He was the only one who knew how bad those visions were. He still felt guilty for not realizing Remus was having one sooner. Remus always seemed to know when he was experiencing one and wasted no time coming to his aid. Neither of them had a vision this bad in a long time.

He couldn’t worry over his brother too much though. He’d be recovered, they always did. It wasn’t anything new. But this, this was new.

He wasn’t sure where he was but the walls, ceiling, and floor were lined with metal, making the hallway seem cold and impersonal. It was so unlike the streets with the concrete flooring and the brick buildings. Roman wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Sure, new was exciting but new was also dangerous. He had no idea where he was or how to get back. He’d never been in this kind of situation before.

Eventually Servantis led the pair out of the hallway and into a larger room with massive paintings on the walls. Only they weren’t paintings. They were windows.

Startled, Roman and Remus hurried over to the class to get a better look. Red filled his vision. Why was the sky red? It was so… dark. Like blood. And where was the sun? Why was everything so murky? It looked like someone took a paint can and splattered it across the world. It looked unnatural in a way that made Roman’s stomach twinge with anxiety.

“Enough of that.” Servantis placed a hand on either boy’s shoulder and guided them away from the window. “Come along. It’s time to meet your new peers.”

New peers? Roman jerked his head up at the sound of that. There were other kids here? Er, teenagers? People his age? He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been around someone his age other than Remus. As a little kid, no one really cared if your clothes were torn and dirty but at his age, it marked you as something to be avoided. He couldn’t just run up to people and play with them anymore. Were there other people here like him and Remus?

Servantis led them through the building into another hallway only this one was less barren than the last. The walls were dotted with doors, each with an almost personal touch. Suddenly the place felt a lot less… alien.

Servantis led them to a large opening in the wall and Roman felt his fear wash away.

The room was large and lined with the same metal as the rest of the place but it felt homey in a way. There were couches, rugs, books, and so much more scattered about the room, giving it life and color. Roman heard Remus gasp in surprise. It’d been so long since they’d even seen anything that resembled a living room.

There were four figures inside, three boys and a girl around the twins’ age. At their arrival, the four looked up curiously. Two of the boys were darked haired and caucasian while the other two were… of Latin American descent? Roman couldn’t tell. He and Remus spent some time in a city near the border a few years ago but the past few cities they’d lived in didn’t have much diversity. Roman’s identification skills were lacking but it didn’t matter much. What mattered was whether or not these four were friendly.

“Are you two new?” one of the boys asked. He had long, dark hair and the palest skin of the four of them. He looked a bit rough but his eyes were soft. Roman hoped he was nice.

“Yes. These two are Roman and Remus. Osomisans, like yourself,” Servatis introduced. He stepped away. “Show them the ropes, Kevin. I need to prepare some things in my lab. I’ll send for them within the hour.”

“Sure thing, Servantis,” Kevin called down the hall before smiling at the twins. “So you two are Osomsians too, huh? What are your powers? I’m the only Osmosian I’ve ever been around but Servantis says mine are really rare and we usually have different ones.”

“Powers?” Roman repeated confused. He exchanged a glance with Remus who shrugged. “We don’t have any powers.”

Kevin seemed unaffected. “You two are what, fourteen? I’d have thought you’d have figured them out by now but whatever. Servantis tell you much about this place?”

The two shook their heads.

“Figures,” the tallest of the boys said, walking over. “He didn’t tell me much when I got here either. If Kevin hadn’t explained things, I’d still be as lost as you too.”

“That’s Manny,” Kevin explained casually.

“I’m Helen!” the girl chirped, rushing over. She pointed at the boy who hadn’t gotten off the couch. “And the bookworm over there is my brother Pierce. It takes him a while to warm up to people. Don’t take it personally if he ignores you.”

“It’s… fine,” Roman responded, a bit overwhelmed. “So, um, what is this place?”

“This as in the base or this as in the Null Void?” Manny asked.

“Both,” Roman and Remus said in unison.

“The Null Void’s this interdimensional prison,” Kevin explained, “but don’t worry. Servantis is in control of the Null Void projector so we’re not really stuck here. He keeps his lab here, don’t know why. I guess you don’t get interrupted much if you’re working in another dimension.”

Roman’s mind went blank. He didn’t understand a word Kevin just said. He knew he wasn’t the smarter of the two brothers and the lack of schooling wasn’t helping. Frankly, he doubted he’d understand even if he was more scientifically inclined. But he did have an affinity for fantasy and his imagination was more than enough to cook up an explanation that didn’t make him question his sanity.

Kevin laughed and clapped his shoulder. “You two look like fun. Wanna go meet the others before Servantis goes all science on your butts?”

“Butts?” Remus echoed but Roman ignored him.

“There are others here?”

Kevin grinned wildly. “Yeah. In the lower levels. We-”

“You’re not supposed to go down there,” Pierce called from across the room, not looking up from the book on his lap. Briefly, Roman wondered what he was reading. Fiction? Something educational? Either way, he was intrigued by the bookshelf in the living room. He and Remus knew how to read well enough to understand the headlines on newspapers they found but Roman had never gotten his hands on an actual book. Maybe Pierce would share.

Kevin waved him off and drifted out of the living room. “Whatever. It’s not like anyone really cares. Helen, Manny, you coming?”

“Nah,” Manny said, turning back to the living room. “I wanna wrap up my game.”

Roman’s eyes drifted to the TV. He wasn’t totally sure what was going on but it looked interesting. He’d seen ads for video games wedged between the comics in newspapers. Was this what they were advertising? It looked cool but he was more interested in whoever Kevin wanted him to meet.

“Race ya!” Helen challenged and took off running down the hall. Remus’s face lit up and he charged after her.

“Hey, wait up!” Roman called, breaking into a run to catch up with his brother. Kevin just sighed and followed them at a more leisurely pace. 

As promised, Kevin led them down to the base’s lower levels. Unlike the living space, the building came cold and metallic again but Roman wasn’t afraid anymore. Kevin and Helen seemed relaxed so he didn’t see anything to worry about. If anything, this was exciting. It was so much better than rummaging through trash cans and finding stairs to spend the night under.

The lower levels were dark and it took Roman more than a minute for his eyes to adjust but even then, he couldn’t see much until Kevin hit a lever to switch his eyes on. What he saw shocked him beyond words.

The level was massive in a way the upper levels couldn’t compare to. The ceiling was high and the walls were wide but that wasn’t what impressed Roman. The walls were lined with cells of some kind blocked off with fields of green energy. It was what stood behind those fields that shocked him.

There was a man made of molten lava and another made of shining crystal, there was a spider the size of a truck and a massive dog with no eyes, there was a floating being made of glowing orange energy and a metal figure with a floating head, there was a blob of green snot and a crab with a massive head, and that wasn’t even all of them. Roman felt his jaw drop at the sight of them. He’d never seen anything like it.

“This is Argit!” Kevin said cheerfully. Roman turned to see Kevin standing beside a small, metal cage beside the door. He was a bit disappointed to see an orange clad rat-like creature curled up inside but Remus looked fascinated. 

“Hi there!” Remus greeted excitedly and stuck his hand through the bars. The rat creature looked hesitant but slowly reached out to shake it. Remus looked beyond thrilled. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Remus and this is my brother Roman.”

“Uh, nice to meet you too,” Argit responded. He glanced between the two brothers. “So, you two are Servantis’s new humans.”

Remus nodded and opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a voice calling down from up the stairs. “Yo Kev! Servantis is calling for you.”

“Be up in a minute!”

“We’re going back up already?” Roman questioned, casting a gaze over his shoulder at all the cells behind him. He wanted to talk to all the monsters locked up down here. They looked so cool. 

“We can come back down later,” Helen promised. She slapped a hand down on Argit’s cage. “See you later, rat.”

“I’m not a rat,” Argit scowled. “I’m an Oporq.”

Helen stuck her tongue out cheekily and Argit just rolled his eyes and waved the group off. Remus looked a bit disappointed that they had to leave so soon but he waved goodbye as well and the group headed back up to see what Servantis wanted.

* * *

Remus felt like he was still trapped in that vision. This all felt so surreal but his thoughts were too lucid for this to be something his mind cooked up. In all honesty, he was loving this. He was a bit- Okay, he was beyond scared when he first arrived but Kevin and Helen were nice and Argit seemed cool and the red sky outside was fascinating. He didn’t know what was out there but this Null Void seemed a million times less boring than the American streets. He wasn’t completely sure how he felt about this place but at least it was interesting. He could learn to like it here.

Helen left them to rejoin Manny and her brother, leaving Kevin to lead Remus and Roman to Servantis’s lab. Remus wasn’t exactly sure what he thought about going to a lab but there wasn’t much he could do to complain.

“Ah. Remus, Roman,” Servantis greeted as the two entered with Kevin trailing close behind. The man was wearing a white lab coat over his black suit but it didn’t do much for his image. “Come. Sit. You too Kevin. It would do you some good to learn about your fellow Osmosians.”

“You keep saying that word,” Roman spoke up as the three sat down on a few chairs at the edge of the lab. They moved when Remus sat down and he nearly fell off. He quickly discovered, to his delight, they were swivel chairs. He grinned and began spinning as Roman continued questioning Servantis. “What is that? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Osmosians are a human subspecies with a unique genetic component in their DNA that gives them unique abilities,” Servantis explained, folding his hands behind his back. “It is quite rare and the mutation patterns are near impossible to predict but the component has been observed to be the same in all Osmosians, giving you a few shared characteristics even if your powers differ.”

That caught Remus’s attention. He stopped spinning and looked up. “Powers?”

A thin smile formed on Servantis’s face. “Kevin? Care to demonstrate?” 

Kevin nodded and wordlessly rose to his feet. He extended a hand and pressed it flat against the nearest wall. Not a moment later, a metallic sheen spread over his body.

“Woah!” Remus exclaimed, face lighting up. “We can do that?”

“Not exactly,” Kevin said. He clenched his hands and the metal melded away and he sat back down. “I’m a special case.”

“Indeed. Absorption is quite a rare anomaly,” Servantis said. “An Osmosian’s powers depend on the individual. Well, the genetics, rather. It’s highly likely you two have the same powers. I’m excited to study how the Osmosian gene developed in a pair of twins.”

Roman frowned, not liking the sound of that, but Remus was more focused on something else. “That sounds cool and all but we don’t have powers. There’s nothing special about us.”

“Nothing? Nothing at all?” Servantis asked but it didn’t really sound like a question. It was almost like he was mocking them. “Tell me children, why do you live on the streets? What pushed you away from your fellow humans? What sets you apart from your kind?”

“Well…” Roman trailed off, sounding hesitant. He swallowed. “We get fits.”

“Fits?”

“More like visions,” Remus spoke up. He paused for a moment. “They come unexpectedly and we lose all awareness of ourselves and we collapse. It’s like our minds get trapped somewhere else.”

“We both get them,” Roman added, “but it’s usually only one at a time. They hurt pretty bad so we can usually tell when the other is having them. We can usually… uh… share them I guess? Like when I’m having one and Remus touches me, he can kind of pull me out of it and we’re both in it for a while and it doesn’t hurt as bad.”

“Interesting,” Servantis mused. Remus gripped the edge of his seat as the man began pacing. “I assume you had one today? My devices detected an energy surge.”

“I did,” Remus responded. “In the alleyway. Roman and I split up for a bit and I collapsed. It was a bad one today.”

Servantis didn’t offer any sympathies. “And what did you see?”

Roman and Remus exchanged a glance. They didn’t talk about their visions. They did with each other every once in a while, mostly in passing, but they’d never shared it with a stranger. Their visions were so… personal. 

Servantis’s face suddenly softened. “Come on, children. You can tell me. I only want to help.”

“They… They don’t make much sense,” Roman began hesitantly. “But they’re all the same. Or similar at least.” 

“Oh?”

“We see people a lot,” Remus said. “People but I don’t know who they are. They look different sometimes but they’re always the same people.”

“They look different?”

“Sometimes they’re human but they all have the same face,” Remus said. He thought for a moment, wracking his memory. The visions usually faded and became less vivid when he snapped out of them. He’d never actively tried recalling them like this. “Sometimes they’re monsters too. But this time… this time they were streaks.”

“Streaks?” Kevin snorted.

Remus nodded. “Streaks of color. It was really different this time. I got really deep into it.”

Roman looked guilty. “Sorry I didn’t come for you sooner.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Remus assured him with a wave. In all honesty, despite the pain, he didn’t really mind. Those visions… He felt something he never felt in real life. He wondered that that was. 

Servantis stroked his beard. “Interesting. I’ve never encountered a power like yours.”

Kevin looked skeptical. “It just sounds like hallucinations if you ask me. Crazy repeating dreams. They don’t mean anything.”

“Maybe they do. Maybe they don’t,” Servantis said. “What’s interesting is the fact their connection as twins affects their abilities. Interesting indeed. I’d like a blood sample to study.”

“You want our blood?” Roman squeaked. Servantis didn’t respond, grabbing a device off the nearest table and taking a few steps over. Swiftly, he swiped it across Roman’s hand, earning a yelp from the boy. “Hey!”

Servantis said nothing and turned to Remus. Remus held out his hand and Servantis jabbed the other side of the device into his hand. Remus winced but it didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would.

Servantis turned away, approaching some complicated lab equipment on the other side of the room. “You two run along now. Find Swift or Leander and return to the common room. Kevin, you stay here. I would like to make a few comparisons.”

The twins nodded and hopped off their seats, waving goodbye to Kevin as they darted out of the room. Freedom at last! For the first time since coming here, they didn’t have someone watching their every move.

“We’re not going to go look for these Swift and Leander guys, are we?” Roman asked as the two slowed to a walk in the hallway.

Remus shook his head and grinned. “What did you think of the lower levels?”

“With all those monsters?” Roman asked, grinning. “That was so cool! I can’t believe we had to leave so fast. We’re going back, right?”

“Duh!” Remus said. He sped up into a jog again. “Come on, Princey!”

Roman chased after him and the two retraced their steps back to the stairs, stumbling excitedly. Remus still ached from his episode earlier but it was washed away for the most part by the new emotions bubbling up inside him. He didn’t really care about all that lab stuff Servantis was talking about but monsters, that he could get behind.

Roman and Remus were back on the lower levels within a few minutes. The lights were still on and Remus immediately went right back up to Argit’s cage. He found him fascinating. “Hi Argit!”

The rodent looked up at the sound of his name. “Wha- Oh. Hey. Remus, right?”

Remus nodded. “That’s right!”

“Come on, Remus,” Roman said, trying to pull him away. “Let’s go check out all the other monsters. I mean, Argit’s cool and all but there’s a guy over there who’s literally on fire!”

“Excuse you, dirtbag, but we’re not monsters,” Argit sniffed, crossing his arms. “We’re aliens.”

Somehow, this day got even better. Remus crouched down beside Argit’s metal cage and gripped the bars excitedly. “Aliens? That’s so cool! Come on, Argit. You’ve gotta introduce us to everyone.”

Argit looked surprised and Roman looked even more so. “Eh? You know we can just go look at them right?”

“We’re not at a zoo!” Remus protested. “These guys are so cool! They can be our new friends! Come on, Argit, what do you say?”

Argit shrugged. “Whatever. Just get me out of this cage.”

Remus began fumbling with the lock on top of the cage but Roman grabbed his hand. “What are you doing, Remus? You can’t just let him out!”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m going anywhere,” Argit said, looking annoyed. Remus had to admit he looked kind of adorable in his oversized orange jacket. Argit looked like he was on the younger side, barely more than a child for his species. “Servantis would kill me if he caught me wandering around the base and believe me, it’s way better in here than out there. I promise I’ll walk right back into this here cage after I show you two around.”

Remus smiled up at his brother, giving him his best puppy eyes, and watched him falter. Roman sighed. “Okay, fine. Let him out.”

Remus gave a happy shriek and clapped before undoing the lock on the cage. The metal door slid open and Argit got to his feet, stepping out. “It’s about time. It’s been forever since I’ve been able to walk around. Now come on, slow pokes. We don’t have all day.”

Argit was a small thing, his tallest quill barely reaching Remus’s hip, but he walked with authority. The cell block was a bit far from the entrance where his cage was but he sauntered over like nobody's business and came to a stop in the middle of the cells where he could see all of them.

“Oi! Everyone listen up! We’ve got some new humans. I’m gonna introduce them to all of you. Be on your best behavior so they don’t automatically hate you. Kapeesh? Awesome.”

“You’re a moron, you know that?” a pink crab with a massive head spoke.

“Thought Cerebrocrustaceans could use bigger words than that,” a metal creature with a floating head said.

“We can but I wanted to be clear.”

“Ah.”

“Crabby and chuckles over here are Cerebro and Bios,” Argit said, jabbing a finger in the two’s direction. “They/ them pronouns for Bios. They get kinda cranky when you call them the wrong thing. Cerebro’s a Cerebrocrustacean and Bios is a Biosovorian.”

“Creative names,” Roman said sarcastically. “I’m sure you could do much better than that.”

“We didn’t come up with them,” Bois said boredly. They leaned casually on the wall beside the force field keeping them in their cell. “The human Manny has a hard time remembering our species names so he shortened them.”

“I wanted to call Cerebro Brain Crab and Bios Magnet Head but Helen slapped me,” Argit said with a shrug.

“Don’t you guys have actual names?” Remus questioned.

“It’s a long story,” Argit said, making it clear they weren’t going to talk about it. “Now over there are Helen and Manny’s friends Kine and Tetra. She’s a Kineceleran and he’s a Tetramand. Crazy strong and crazy fast, those two.”

“Sup,” Tetra said, waving two of his four arms. He was humanoid but towering, well over ten feet of leathery red skin and solid muscle.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Kine said, waving her tail. She too was tall but not quite in the same way as Tetra, She was thin, clearly built for speed, and the sharp points of her armor just made her look all the more intimidating. 

“I’m Pyro,” a rough voice spoke up and the flaming man waved his hand. “I’m a Pyronite. The Terrorchula is Tero and the Vulpimancer is Vulpi. Girls, both of em. They don’t talk much so don’t try. And don’t get too close unless you want to get snapped at. Pierce learned that the hard way. Weird kid.”

“Noted,” Remus said but he couldn’t help but gaze at the Terrorchula and Vulpimancer with keen interest. They were the most beastly of all the aliens and the wildest. He thought they were awesome.

“I’m Pryp. They/ them please,” the glowing being spoke up. “I’m a Prypiatosian-B so don’t get too close. My cell contains all the radiation but it’s better safe than sorry. Don’t worry, I’m getting a containment suit soon.”

“This is Aero the Aerophibian and Planch the Planchakule,” Argit introduced. Aero screeched at the sound of his name while Planch let out some intelligible chatters. Argit sighed. “They can talk but they’re not the conversational type.”

Remus nodded silently, eyes skimming the cells before they fell on the last two. Immediately, he was drawn to a blobbish green form in one of them. “What’s your name?”

“Call me Poly,” a high pitched voice responded. Remus realized it was coming from the hovering device above his head. “I’m a Polymorph. They/ them pronouns for me too.”

“Poly. They/ them. Got it.”

“Call me Petro,” the crystal man said. Remus turned and realized Roman was standing by his cell, eyes wide with awe. “I’m a Petrosapien. Um, he/ him pronouns please.”

Roman nodded. “Is introducing yourself with your pronouns a thing in space?”

“Not really,” Tetra said. “Servantis and the rest of the Rooters just call us it most of the time so we started emphasizing our pronouns by principal.” 

“Rooters?”

“Oh, they don’t know yet,” Kine cooed softly. “Listen up you two and listen close because you’re only going to hear this once. Make the most of your situation but know that this place isn’t safe. Not a single person other than Servantis and his lackeys is here by choice. The kids are treated well but in the end, the only reason they’re not prisoners down here with us is that Servantis can control them. He’s a scientist at heart and he’s not afraid to ignore his morals.”

Remus suddenly noticed how bad the conditions they all were in. They all looked a bit malnourished at least but a number of them were bandaged or had exposed scars on their skin, undoubtedly from blood tests like the ones Servantis just gave the twins or possibly something worse. Scratch that, definitely something worse.

“Get out if you can,” Pyro said. “The Null Void is no place for a kid.”

Remus and Roman exchanged a glance. “You know… This place is probably better than the one we came from.”

Pyro sighed. “I get that. As much as I hate being a human’s experiment, it’s better than the free for all outside. Just watch your backs, will you?”

“We will,” Roman and Remus quietly vowed.

* * *

Roman and Remus spent a couple hours on the lower levels. Roman still had a hard time wrapping around the idea of aliens but his inner child was just so drawn to them that he stopped caring.

Roman and Remus were heading back to the living room when they heard some odd noises. Giving into curiosity, they stuck their heads into the cracked door.

“Hey! Remus! Roman!” Helen called with a wave. “Come over here.”

Roman and Remus stepped in and Roman was hit with a wave of heat and the smell of sweat. Roman nearly staggered. The room seemed to be some kind of gym, fit with equipment and all.

Pierce and Manny were wrestling on a set of mats when Roman and Remus wandered in but stopped when they spotted the two, breathing heavily. “Hey.”

“Why were you two fighting?” Roman questioned, not that he wasn’t intrigued. 

Pierce shrugged silently and wiped his brow while Manny gave them a look of excitement. “Phil likes keeping us in good shape. Servantis says we need to know how to fight if we’re going to be Rooters.”

“Phil?”

“Me,” a rough voice said and a tall man with long, greying hair stepped into the room. “Scram you two. Stop distracting them.”

Roman and Remus grinned cheekily before scuttling out of the room and back toward the living room.

“Wasn’t that cool?” Remus asked. “Did you see those weapons? I’m stealing that mace-thing the first chance I get.”

Roman nodded and opened his mouth to respond as they stepped into the living room but the sight of a form draped over the couch cut him off. “Kevin!”

Kevin was sitting on the long, green couch with his head tilted back and his arms sprawled out but he looked up when the twins scampered up to him. “Wha-? Oh. Hey you two.”

“Are you okay?” Remus asked, looking worried. “You don’t look so good.”

Kevin nodded. “I just need a minute. Servantis got kinda excited with his experiments so he drained me a bit more than normal but I’ll be fine.”

Roman closed his lips, Pyro’s warning echoing in his ears, and exchanged an uneasy glance with Remus. Was their new life really all it was made out to be?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really satisfied with this chapter but I can’t really fix it. It’s basically just setting up future chapters.
> 
> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:  
> Necrofriggian (Big Chill’s Species), Loboan (Blitzwolfer’s Species), Revonnahgander (Rook’s Species), Nagasapien (Ssserpent’s Species), Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstorm’s Species), Lenopan (Cousin Lucy’s Species), Tetramand (Four Arms’ Species), Galvan (Grey Matter’s Species), Kineceleran (XLR8’s Species), Appoplexian (Rath’s Species), Petrosapien (Diamondhead’s Species), Splixson (Ditto’s Species), Florauna (Wildvine’s Species), Polar Manzardill (Arctiguana’s Species), Vulpimancer (Wildmutt’s Species), Polymorph (Goop’s Species), Thep Khufan (Snare-Oh’s Species)

Deceit knew his species had a reputation as common lowlife for a reason but he never let that stop him. Still, he couldn’t feel a bit lacking compared to his new teammates. 

Virgil was a Necrofriggian and Deceit found that fascinating. He’d never seen someone with a form like his. He was compact and the black and purple markings on his body and wings blended so well. And then there was the ice powers and intangibility. Virgil was on the shy side but he had a sharp tongue to him and Deceit was sure that could easily be translated into power in battle.

Logan was a Cerebrocrustacean and despite what he said about his species being looked down upon, Deceit couldn’t help but be awed by them. His exoskeleton was a deep indigo color that suited him well. Like all Cerebeocrustaceans, his cranium was more than disproportionate compared to the rest of him but Logan had a sturdy body to match it, unlike some other Cerebrocrustaceans Deceit had met. He was surprisingly humble for his kind as well which Deceit appreciated.

Patton was a Lenopan. They had a reputation like Nagasapiens but with good reason. Their form was somewhere in the evolution line between mud and humanoid and that made their emotions fairly unstable. Susceptible to fits of rage and episodes of aggression, they were well suited to be criminals. Deceit didn’t know how true that was, Patton was probably the nicest guy he’d met, but he’d be lying if he said that his shapeshifting and fluid form didn’t seem useful. Sure, Deceit could stretch and coil but Patton just did it on a whole different level.

Scout’s powers weren’t quite like the others. Deceit thought all the wolf-like creature had to him were claws and powerful muscles but it turned out his howl packed a punch. A sonic howl put Deceit’s venom to shame.

The only one without powers Deceit could compare himself to was Rook but that was irrelevant because his ass was getting kicked as bad as the rest of them right now.

“Enough!” Magister Hulka barked and Deceit let out a groan. It took every ounce of willpower in his system to prevent himself from slumping over. Muscles were aching in places he didn’t even know he had muscles.

A Galvan was standing on Logan’s head, keeping him from using his powers; a Kinceleran was clashing with Virgil, using his speed to avoid any ice blasts; Scout was pinned by an Appoplexian, the tiger muzzling him with one hand; Patton was trapped in a dome created by a Petrosapien, mud blasts unable to even dent the peranite; and Rook… Yeah, Deceit wasn’t even going to attempt to look at Rook. He’d done as poorly as the rest.

“Burton, Mann, Alazraqui, Blonko, Bradker, out!” Hulka barked. “All of you out!”

The Splixson Deceit was fighting stuck his tongue out at the serpent. It took all of Deceit’s willpower not to eat him. He settled for hissing and slithered out of the training room quickly, trying his best not to press against the ground. He wasn’t about to give the Splixson the satisfaction of leaving with his belly on the ground.

Virgil, Scout, and Patton scurried after them. Rook and Logan looked like they wanted to protest but Deceit grabbed them and dragged them out after him. “Don’t.”

Logan looked annoyed and jerked himself free once the team made it down the hall. “What was that?”

“You couldn’t have kept fighting that thing,” Deceit pointed out, undertones of a hiss on his voice. “That Galvan was out of range of your claws and if you tried blasting her, you would fry your brain.”

“Not that,” Logan said, frustrated but Deceit had a feeling the unhappy tone wasn’t directed at him. “Hulka.”

“Indeed,” Rook agreed, eyes narrowing. “He gave us virtually no instruction yet expected us to fight? That is not how you teach people to fight.”

“Do any of us actually have fighting experience?” Scout questioned aloud.

“Not formally,” Patton said. “And definitely not against aliens with powers.”

“Same here,” Deceit complained. He knew he could hold his own but against a Splixson? Those things were designed to fight predators.

“We knew this would happen, didn’t we?” Virgil sighed as they entered the dormitory wing. Wordlessly, they started heading toward L233. “It sounds like we’re going to have to train on our own in our free time.”

“How?” Deceit demanded, tail curling in annoyance. “We don’t have free time and we can’t learn without someone to teach us.”

“We have each other,” Patton pointed out.

“That will only do so much.”

“This is the only way we’ll graduate.”

“I know but-” Deceit cut himself off and sighed. “Logan, do you think the Plumbers’ database has texts on different species’ fighting styles?”

“I’m sure they do but I doubt they have anything on the majority of our species.”

“I know but it doesn’t matter,” Deceit said.

Rook seemed to catch on, nodding as his expression shifted. “We are standing in a cultural crossroads. There is absolutely no reason we should limit ourselves to our species’ fighting styles.”

“Exactly.” Deceit nodded. “I know Nagasapiens can learn some Flourana tricks and pretty much anyone can use Tetramand and Appoplexian styles…”

“We take whatever we can get,” Virgil spoke up, catching on.

“So you are proposing we attempt to learn whatever fighting techniques we can solely based on the data in the Plumbers’ database? Do you have any idea how difficult that is? Learning from texts rather than instruction aside, there is a high probability we aren’t physically suited for whatever we will find,” Logan stated. For a moment, the group was silent and Deceit began questioning himself. He wasn’t the optimistic type but maybe he was getting ahead of himself. But, surprisingly, Logan smiled. “It is ambitious but I am more than willing to do what it takes. I will not allow neglect on our teachers’ behalf be our downfall.”

“That’s the spirit,” Deceit said and came to a stop. “So… To the database, shall we?”

* * *

“How do they expect us to do these kinds of maneuvers without any arms?” Logan cried in outrage as he tapped away at a tablet in one of the training rooms. He snapped a free claw in the air as if to prove a point. “I am willing to bet my own brain that Plumber instructors don’t give these lessons to Galvans or Flourana. It is impossible to perform any of these techniques without a sturdy, humanoid form.”

Rook and Scout were trying out some of the moves Logan had found by tapping into the texts that came with the day’s lessons but Virgil and Patton looked confused as ever and Deceit looked positively frustrated.

“I’ve seen Plumbers fight,” Patton spoke up, scratching his head and dripping mud onto the smooth floors. “They don’t fight like this. I don’t know what this is. Are these supposed to be warm ups?”

“This is ridiculous, that’s what,” Deceit hissed. He gave up on… whatever it was he was doing. Logan was the one who explained it to him and honestly he didn’t have the foggiest idea Deceit was trying to do either. “Patton’s right. This isn’t at all useful in a fight.”

“Today was the first combat lesson,” Virgil pointed out. “Maybe they were starting at the bottom?”

“I have started at the bottom. This is not it,” Rook said. He gave up his efforts and approached Logan. “While it is not useless, you are right about this style not being suited for aliens of most of the team’s physiques, Logan. This can not possibly be all there is.”

“It’s not but the access panels in the training room only have whatever the instructors downloaded.”

“We don’t care about the lessons. We’re going rouge,” Scout spoke up, lashing his tail. “We’re going above and beyond, crab-face. We need more than lessons that don’t work.”

Logan cocked a brow. “Do you expect me to conjure the texts we need from thin air?”

Scout rolled his eyes. “No. I mean we need to hit a bigger database. Wasn’t that the plan from the start?”

“The databases are restricted. While you are right about the fact we need access to those texts, they are not at our disposal.”

“So hack ‘em,” Deceit said tonelessly, as if that answer was obvious.

“Hold on,” Rook protested, putting up a hand. “We cannot hack the Plumber database. You know how strict the rules are. We would be severely punished, maybe even expelled.”

“Only if we get caught,” Deceit said pointedly.

“Your faith in me leaves me curious,” Logan said. He knew he sounded doubtful but inwardly, he was proud that his peers already regarded him so highly.

Deceit glanced over his shoulder at him. “So you can’t do it?”

“No, I can,” Logan said, almost offended that Deceit would suggest that he couldn’t. “I just want you to look at the situation realistically. And curb your species’ thieving instincts.”

“I am,” Deceit grunted. “Now, are we going to bust into the real database or what?”

* * *

“I have a bad feeling about this guys,” Virgil spoke into the comm device as he turned intangible and ghosted through the Academy’s walls. Tension tingled in his muscles. It was a wonder it wasn’t interfering with his phasing. 

_ “You’re the only one who can sneak deep enough into the restricted areas to get what we need,” _ Scout responded through the ear piece.  _ “Come on, Virgil. I know you can do it.” _

“I’m pretty sure the Plumber gear I’m wearing has some kind of tracking system. And I know for a fact we’re talking on an open channel.”

_ “You can break in naked without us guiding you if you want,” _ Scout responded.

“No, it’s fine. Just my anxiety talking,” Virgil sighed. He glanced down at himself, still not used to seeing the white Plumber suit when he did so. He was used to wearing rags or simply wrapping himself in his wings. The armor fit perfectly and was designed to phase and disappear with him but that didn’t mean it wasn’t odd seeing white against the darker colors of his skin. It made everything more real, somehow. “So where am I headed?”

_ “Keep heading in the direction you’re going then turn into the third sector. The database should be at the end of that hallway,” _ Logan told him through the comm channel.  _ “All you need to do is plug the device I gave you into the main computer and I’ll do the rest.” _

“Which is?”

_ “Locate the files we need and download them remotely. I will tell you when I’m done and you can remove the device and return to our room.” _

“How long does it take to download?”

_ “Depends on how large the files are. If it’s just text, it shouldn’t take long but with any luck, there will be videos, analysis, and maybe even simulation discs. Ideally, we would download everything we could need at once so we don’t need you to take a second trip.” _

Virgil gulped. “No way in Vladat history am I doing this a second time.”

_ “Then chances are you will be waiting in the server room for a while. How long can you remain invisible?” _

“Um, I don’t know. I’ve never tried to push my limits. It’s not hard though. I’ve stayed invisible for a whole night.”

_ “How long are nights on Anur Transyl?” _

_ “About sixteen Earth hours,” _ Scout responded when Virgil stayed quiet. 

_ “Then you should be safe, provided you keep quiet.” _

“That I can do,” Virgil answered as he slipped into the server room. It was about what he expected, covered in screens and tech he didn’t recognize, but it was still unsettling. Anur Transyl wasn’t the most high tech place and all the bright lights never failed to surprise him.

Muting his headset, he approached the servers. Luckily, the room was empty at the moment so he was able to stick the drive into it uninterrupted. He let out a breath as the first step was completed. Now, all he had to do was wait.

* * *

Scout paced his brother’s dorm room like the wolf he was. Abestnly, he was aware he was walking on all fours. He hated doing that, it made him feel like a member of the uncivilized half of his species, but he was too worried right now to care. “Is he alright?”

“I don’t know. His comms are muted,” Logan responded from where he sat on his bed. A Plumber issued tablet was open in front of him. “The download is almost complete though so at least the drive hasn’t been found.”

“I don’t care about the drive! I care about my brother!”

Logan looked up at him and blinked. “I know. I was merely stating that it’s unlikely he was found if the drive is still active. Was I not clear? If I wasn’t, my apologies. I’m not used to, eh, explaining my line of logic when I speak.”

Scout waved his tail dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. I guess I’m being a bit snappy.”

“Aww. That’s okay Scout!” Patton said in his eternally cheerful manner. He was sitting at the desk under Virgil’s bed, back in his human form. “I have a little sister too. I know how rough it can get when you’re worried about them.”

Scout smiled, not bothering to point out that his and Virgil’s situation was drastically different than whatever Patton’s experience as a sibling was. He appreciated the effort. Sighing, he stopped pacing and settled down on the ground beside the Lenopan. To his surprise, Patton put a hand on his head and began scratching his ears. “What are you doing?”

“Oh sorry. It’s an Earth thing. Humans show Earth canines affection this way. They seem to enjoy it,” Patton explained and began to withdraw his hand. “I can stop if you want.”

Scout pushed his head into Patton’s hand. “No, you can keep doing it. This is actually really nice.”

Rook sighed and leaned over to the rail of Virgil’s bed, looking down on the two from the bunk. “Your tail is wagging.”

“And?”

“Is it not humiliating to be petted in that way?”

“Don’t knock it until you try it, cat boy,” Scout replied and began thumping his tail against the ground harder as if to prove a point. He let his tongue loll out and closed his eyes blissfully as Patton’s hand shifted to the thick mane of fur around his neck. This was surprisingly pleasant and Patton seemed to be enjoying himself as well, cooing happily at Scout’s reaction.

Deceit looked amused by it all but tired of it quickly. “You see what kind of stuff you’ve downloaded yet, Logan?”

“Not much. It slows the process down to view the files while being transferred,” Logan told him without looking up. “From what I can tell though, this is exactly what we’re looking for. Primary sources written by martial artists, video lessons for specific species’ abilities, descriptions on how to adapt various fighting styles to a being’s own needs and preferences… It is all fairly detailed as well. And broad. I imagine the instructors don’t teach lessons as specific as these due to the diversity in each class but with just the six of us learning, I’m certain we can make monumental progress in the afterhours.” 

“We need to start with the basics,” Rook pointed out. “Even if we have these resources at our disposal, we cannot jump right into it. We need to condition our bodies to be able to withstand being pushed so hard, we need to learn katas, we need to work on reac-”

“We need to do everything,” Deceit said grimly. “Patton, toss me a pen and paper. We’re going to have to do some serious regime planning.”

* * *

Patton was about half way through labeling the calendar Deceit asked him to draw when Virgil returned. He hummed softly to himself, easily falling into the routine. It was nice to have a simple distraction like this.

“That was so stressful!” Virgil gasped as he pushed the door open and collapsed on the ground beside his brother. Scout whined sympathetically and lapped the side of his face. Virgil didn’t react and leaned against his furry flank. “Ask me to do that again. I dare you. First person to do it, I will freeze your ass so fast…”

“Your words contradict each other,” Rook spoke up, frowning. Virgil looked up and gave him a deadpan stare until Rook blinked with realization. “Oh. That was… um, sarcasm? Or satire? Or just indirect phrasing? Forgive me, I really have no idea.”

Virgil sighed and waved him off. “Stop apologizing Rook.”

“Well, I’m proud of you,” Patton said, clapping. He shot Virgil his best smile. “Great job kiddo!”

Virgil looked confused but didn’t comment. “Thanks Patton?”

Deceit coiled down the bed posts so he could lean down to read over Logan’s shoulder. “So what did you find?”

Logan was grinning. “This is brilliant! Look here, full combat tutorials for Polymorphs and Flourana. Their fighting styles can be adapted to perfectly fit Lenopans and Nagasapeins. And there are videos of Ectonurites and Polar Manzardills with analysis. Virgil will be able to use those. And there are details on Vulpimancer hunting strategies, Appoplexian wrestling styles, Tetramands’ conditioning styles…”

“Anything for Cerebrocrustaceans?” Virgil asked.

Logan frowned. “Not exactly. There are texts from Galvans but I do not know how useful those will be to be.”

“Your abilities are very diverse, Logan,” Rook pointed out. “You have a fairly good grasp on your electrical abilities and I’m sure they can be augmented by the techniques of other energy manipulators’ styles.”

Logan didn’t look appeased. “I cannot be reliant on my electrical blasts. I can be rendered useless simply by someone standing on my head.”

Patton frowned, not liking where this was going. He stretched his arms, reaching across the room and trying his best not to drip, to take one of Logan’s claws. “Hey, don’t look so defeated! We haven’t looked through everything yet and even if there isn’t anything suited for your species, it’s not the end of the universe. It sounds like there’s a lot in there. You’re the smartest one here. I’m sure you’ll be able to learn something.”

Logan smiled. “You are right Patton. My apologies, I didn't mean to bring that kind of negativity.”

“No worries kiddo! It’s perfectly understandable.”

“I’m going to back these files up onto a few more external drives just in case,” Logan said. “Virgil, rest up. The rest of you keep working on those schedules.” 

* * *

Rook sat on the floor with Deceit and Patton, trying to come up with a basic outline of a training schedule for the foreseeable future. He had to admit, he was a bit surprised to learn he was the only one who’d actually trained in combat before. He excelled in Revonah-Kai which gave him a bit of equal footing on a station of aliens with such amazing abilities but it meant nothing if he couldn’t help his new teammates.

Rook didn’t expect to end up with teammates when he applied and he’d been a bit surprised when it was announced at orientation. It did make sense though. On the field, Plumbers worked in units and it was proven that peer learning supplemented teacher instruction, as seen by the determination the group showed when they realized their combat classes weren’t going to teach them anything.

The responsibility of being the only experienced fighter in the group hadn’t quite set in. Rook knew that Virgil, Scout, Deceit, Patton, and probably even Logan had more real world experience and later on they’d probably outpace him but right now, he was their guide. He was the only one with an actual idea of how to get started.

So, he planned. Or outlined rather. Logan was still backing up the files so he didn’t have the details of the plan quite yet but Rook didn’t need them right now. His team needed the fundamentals. The advanced stuff could wait awhile.

“I… I haven’t even heard of half these exercises,” Virgil said as he and Scout glanced over some of the plans. 

“Many of them are katas from my homeworld or strength building techniques from Earth that Patton knows of,” Rook told them, “though our main focus probably should be agility. No one on this team is or ever will be a powerhouse.”

Scout nodded. “I’ve seen some Thep Kufans do some wild stuff with agility alone. Being able to dodge, leap, and weave around an opponent is really underrated.”

“We still need strength though,” Virgil pointed out. “Yeah, our fighting styles will have to be agility based but we still need to build up muscle and endurance to last long enough for it to do us any good.”

“We need to put a lot of work into everything,” Patton pointed out. “We’re all starting at a pretty big disadvantage here but we’ve already decided we’re not going to let that stop us. We just gotta push ourselves. No matter how discouraging this is going to be, we’re going to do this.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time skip between this chapter and the last chapter we saw Roman and Remus. Let’s say about a year or two. The second half of this chapter takes place a while after the first half, maybe a few months. It will be mentioned but note that during this time, Remus and Roman have settled into their new life and all the Rooter kids have received combat training.
> 
> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:  
> Oporq (Argit’s Species), Pyronite (Heatblast’s Species), Petrosapien (Diamondhead’s Species), Polymorph (Goop’s Species), Aerophibian (Jetray’s Species), Terroranchula (Phil’s Species), Vulpimancer (Wildmutt’s Species), Planchakule (Juryrigg’s Species), Osmosian (Kevin’s Species), Amalgam

“I will find my way! I can go the distance. I’ll be there someday! If I can be strong,” Roman sang, spinning himself through the long, empty space between the lower level cells. His eyes fell on one cell in particular. He shot a grin at its inhabitant and skipped his way over. Lowering his voice, he dramatically pressed himself against the post beside the force field and slid down to a seated position. “I know every mile will be worth my while. I would go most anywhere to feel like I belong.”

Petro smiled and took a seat facing away from Roman in his cell, leaning against the green force field so he could see the boy. Not that he was much of a boy anymore. Gone was the scampy kid who ran through alleyways and ate out of trash cans. No, Rooter life had treated Roman well. With a regular diet and exercise, he’d filled out a bit though calling it exercise may be selling it short. Leader and Phil’s endless combat drillings of the kids made each one of them gain more than a decent amount of muscle and Roman was no exception. Safety and encouragement did wonders for him. It was like he was a whole new person.

“Did you come up with that?” Petro asked as Roman glanced back at him. “I haven’t seen you in a few days. Have you been working on a new song?”

Roman shook his head. “I wish. Remus and I have been having a couple bad episodes these past few days and I remembered some songs. I don’t really know where they came from… I think that one had something to do with a guy called Hercules? I’m not sure. I thought you’d like it, Petro. I wanted to come down here to share them with you but Servantis wouldn’t let us out of his sight.”

Petro frowned. “Is Servantis still studying what happens when you and your brother don’t help each other during your visions?”

Roman shook his head. “No, he gave that up forever ago. I guess he realized our, uh, Osmosian abilities aren’t really all that useful. These past few have just been a lot stronger than usual. I don’t know why.”

Roman didn’t have a clear view of Petro’s face but he could imagine his expression shifting as he sighed. “Well, I’m glad you’re doing okay, kid. I was getting a bit worried about you.”

Roman smiled, unable to contain his cheeky side. “Aww!”

Petro snorted and turned away, pulling his knees against his body. “Don’t look too deeply into it. You kids are our only source of entertainment down here.”

“Yeah but I’m your favorite!”

Petro chuckled in his rough, deep way. “Keep that attitude up and you might get booted down to number t- I feel vibrations. Hide.”

“What?”

The Terrorchula a few cells down let out a shriek and began clawing at her cell furiously. 

“Servantis is coming!” Argit cried in warning and Roman froze, looking around frantically before ducking behind one of the access panels between Petro and Aero’s cells. Thankfully, three of the cells’ walls were metal and none of them shared walls, there was a gap of space between them. Not the best hiding place and it was a bit of a tight fit but it hadn’t failed Roman yet.

Light, precise footsteps echoed softly through the level. Roman silently hoped Remus and whoever else was down here hid quickly enough. If Servantis caught any of them down here, Roman was positive none of them would have the chance to come back down again and no one wanted that.

“Hey Servantis,” Argit greeted as the tall, slender man stepped off the stairs. “Any chance you’re here to let me out of this cage and into one of those nice, big, comfy cells? It’s getting a bit cramped in here.”

Servantis ignored him and proceeded through the corridor, not sparing a glance at the cells paralleling him on either side. Vulpi and Terro roared and snapped at him but the rest of the aliens just met Servantis with boiling, silent gazes. Roman shivered. Sure, Servantis was strict but he never frightened him unless he was like this. He looked so cold. It didn’t feel right. 

Servantis walked with his hands folded behind his back but they moved to a cell’s access panel when he came to a stop in front of Petro’s cell. Roman held his breath, practically feeling Petro’s confusion and unease through the metal wall as Servantis tapped away at the panel. Suddenly, a noise Roman had never heard sounded. The force field was going down.

Electricity sparked and Petro cried out. In a split second, Petro collapsed into an unconscious heap and Servantis was dragging him across the floor toward the stairs. This time, Argit didn’t make any snappy comments or clever quips. He whimpered and hugged his tail close to him as he eyed the weapon in Servantis’s free hand. Roman couldn’t blame him.

Once he was sure it was clear, Roman stepped out of his hiding place and let out the breath he’d been holding. He looked into Petro’s cell, assuring himself it was empty. He almost couldn’t believe it. 

He glanced around the level, gaze searching, until Pyro pointed further down the room. Roman mouthed his thanks before breaking into a run to find his brother. “Remus!”

Remus was leaning against the post beside the Polymorph’s cell just as Roman had been with Petro, clearly deep in conversation with the gelatinous alien. He froze mid sentence, hands in the air, and looked up at his brother as Roman threw himself down on the ground beside him. “Hey Ro. What’s up?”

“Don’t what’s up me,” Roman said. He jabbed a finger toward the door. “Servantis just took Petro!”

“Calm down, Roman,” Poly whirred from behind his own force field. “Servantis picks us up all the time for experiments.”

“I know but- but-”

“Was that your first time seeing it?” Remus asked and Roman nodded. Remus shifted his arm, offering Roman a place curled up beside him. “I’ve seen it a couple times. I don’t like it but they always come back fine.”

“Yeah,” Roman murmured, taking the offered place against Remus. He couldn’t help but notice how different leaning against Remus felt now but it was still so distinctly Remus that he didn’t mind. It was still comforting. He glanced over his shoulder at Poly. “What happens when Servantis takes you to his lab?”

Poly’s semi-solid form shifted with displeasure but it was Planch from the cell over who answered. “Bad! Bad! Lab is bad! Experiments no good!”

Roman felt Remus stiffen beside him. Roman subconsciously gripped his wrist like a lifeline.

Poly made a noise that could pass for a sigh. “Maybe you two should go watch. I know you’re curious and at least a little suspicious. I think it’s time you went to see for yourself.”

“See what for ourselves?”

“What exactly the Rooters- Servantis- do.”

Remus and Roman exchanged a glance.

“I don’t know,” Roman started despite the sudden curiosity clawing at his chest.

“Come on!” Remus exclaimed, jumping to his feet and dragging Roman up with him. “Servantis is blind as a Vulpimancer-” 

“Not a good simile.”

“-so I’m sure we could sneak in and watch no problem,” Remus said, tugging on Roman’s hands to pull him toward the door. “We don’t get caught.”

“Yeah but-”

“I know you’ve been wondering. And I know you’re worried about Petro.”

“Yeah,” Roman said, giving with a sigh. “Let’s go.”

“Awesome!” Remus cried and proceeded to yank on Roman’s arm. “Bye Poly! Bye Planch! We’ll see you later, yeah?”

“Bye! Bye bye bye!” Planch cackled, clambering around his cell in a chaotic way that rang with Remus’s spirit. Roman sighed and shook his head. Planchakule were naturally wild. If Remus was born a Planchakule instead of a human, Roman didn’t know what he would do.

“See you later,” Poly murmured, forming a hand out of his goo and waving. “May the stars light your path.”

“And you call us dramatic,” Remus responded sarcastically.

Poly huffed. “Just go.”

Remus grinned and proceeded to drag Roman off the cell level and up the stairs. “Come on!”

“Slow down!” Roman hissed. “We don’t want to get caught.”

“There’s no one down here!” Remus pointed out, dropping Roman’s hand to jog toward the lab. He turned, running backwards for a few seconds, before laughing and resuming his usual run. Roman felt his hard expression faltering and he soon was skipping down the hall alongside his brother.

The two sobered up when they neared the science wing of the station and slowed to a walk bordering on a crawl. Remus gestured for Roman to hush, earning an eye roll, and the twins crept up to Servantis’s lab’s door and opened it just a crack to peer inside.

Both Kevin and Petro were inside, strapped down to a pair of metal planks. There were three total but one was empty, with Petro on the far left and Kevin on the middle one. Curiosity about the role of the third plank prickled in Roman’s mind but he shook it away. The machines hooked up to Petro and Kevin’s heads were more concerning.

“Do you think they’re going to get hurt?” Roman whispered.

Remus shook his head. “Kevin looks pretty relaxed. Maybe they’ve done this before?”

Roman pursed his lips shut. A moment later, a flash of movement caught his eye. Servantis was approaching the bounded pair. “I’m going to activate the machine. Kevin, you know what to do.”

Kevin nodded, barely moving to avoid jostling the machinery. Wordlessly, Servantis stepped up to a control panel and tapped at a few buttons before pulling down a lever. Immediately, the machine roared to life.

Petro made noises of distress and Kevin grunted as energy surged down the cables into his body but neither seemed particularly in pain. Uncomfortable but at least neither was screaming.

Kevin’s body took a crystal sheen as the machine died down. Petro slumped back against the table, breathing hard with relief. Servantis looked frustrated. Eyes narrow and face hard, he stroked his hand over his chin as he eyed Kevin. “Why didn’t it work…”

Kevin blinked back at him and glanced down at his body. He said something that Roman couldn’t hear but it seemed to upset Servantis. He took a step back sharply and began shuffling through his equipment.

“The energy does not carry the right element of the… I need them to splice enough to…” Servantis trailed off, muttering under his breath. He grabbed a stack of papers and began leafing through them. “I need to study the connection between the twin Osmosians’ DNA…”

DNA. That word seemed to echo through Roman’s ears and white spots suddenly began to fill his vision. Shifting back, he put a hand to his head and turned away from the door to lean against the wall. Remus glanced at him, frowning with concern. “Ro?”

Roman murmured a response but his ears were ringing so he wasn’t sure if any noise actually left his lips. Sound was melding into his mind but he knew it wasn’t from anything in the station. His eyes became lidded and he reached out for his brother. Remus took his hand in a heartbeat.

The metal walls and red sky behind the windows vanished and Roman was thrown into another world. His Rooter uniform was replaced by a white tunic and red sash, the silver floor became brown carpet, hallways became a living room… Only it wasn’t his living room. But then it was.

Memories clicked into place and suddenly this place was home. Roman sized himself up, a grin spreading over his face as any and all forms of disconnect faded away. He suddenly felt comfortable in his new body, as taller and more muscular as it may be, and walked around the room with ease. It felt like he’d been doing so for years. Maybe he had.

He crossed the living room, stepping into the kitchen. The transition from worn carpet to pristine tile chilled his feet but he didn’t care. Feet guiding themselves, he approached a simple, wooden table in the center of the room. A man in his late twenties or early thirties was seated by it. When he looked up, Roman noticed his glasses and tie. He felt the urge to reach out and run his hand along them but withheld. That would be weird.

“Hello Creativity,” the man greeted. He adjusted his glasses and tie and the urge in Roman’s chest faded slightly but not completely. Indigo, his mind cried and he longed to pull the other man into his arms. Still, he withheld.

“Hey Logic,” Creativity greeted and the words felt so right on his tongue. Logic, that was this man’s name. That was one of the… “Whatcha reading?”

“Merely reviewing some of the basics of the deoxyribon-”

“In English, Specs?”

Logic sighed. “DNA.  Deoxyribonucleic acid, or the building blocks of life as you would call it. It’s a self-replicating material that makes up all living organisms.”

“Orgasms,” a voice butt in, much higher than the steady, deep voice of Logic or Creativity’s bright, resolute tone. Creativity didn’t need to look over his shoulder to know his brother was approaching. His other half. What was his name? It didn’t matter. He was his brother and that was the only thing Creativity cared about. Grinning, his brother draped himself over Creativity’s broad shoulders and eyed the books and papers Logic had scattered around the kitchen table with interest. “We talking about-?”

“No. Organism, a living thing,” Logic corrected. He adjusted his glasses and Creativity wanted to reach out again. His brother’s weight on his shoulders eased it a bit but it didn’t change the fact he still felt empty. “DNA exists within them as the main constituent of chromosomes. It carries the genetic information that holds the instructions for growth and development, functioning, repro-”

Creativity listened intently but Logic’s voice began falling on deaf ears. Thinking he was distracted, he shook himself and tried to listen more carefully but his vision was beginning to become blurry and Logic’s voice became less and less clear. He could feel his body weakening but Logic just kept talking like he didn’t notice.

Creativity put a hand out, seeing his brother’s hand reach out with him, and tried to reach for Logic but his hand never made contact. It passed through his form like mist and the world abruptly shattered.

Pain shot through his body, crackling over him like he was made of glass. He shot up but his body didn’t respond to his brain’s commands. His body suddenly felt too small, like he wasn’t quite Crea- Wait… Who was he? Where was he? He groaned and blinked his eyes open. Light seared his eyes and he had to close them again. The light hurt.

He felt a hand reach out for his, frantically searching until fingers met. He briefly wondered whose hand it was but the moment their hands clasped, he felt horrible for thinking such a thing. It was Remus. Of course it was Remus. Who else would it be? Roman was nothing without Remus. Roman… That’s right. That’s who he was. Roman. Roman King. He suddenly felt incredibly silly for forgetting such a simple, absolute thing like that.

Roman could hear voices but he didn’t think they were from Remus. They felt hollow in a way that Remus’s voice never could be. He lifted his head again, trying to get an idea of his surroundings, but a dull ache in his neck made it difficult. He felt something crack and he winced, putting his head back down.

He closed his eyes and tried to calm the storm of confused feelings fluttering in his chest. Eventually, he got his breathing under control and the nausea faded. He hadn’t really noticed either until they were gone.

Finally, he was collected enough to open his eyes and actually look around. When he did, he realized that he and Remus were lying on the previously empty panel beside Kevin and Petro but they weren’t hooked up to the machine like the other two. Roman frowned as confusion prickled his mind. Servantis had caught them so why wasn’t he…

“Oh. You’re awake,” Servantis hummed as he looked up from his work. Roman felt Remus shift beside him but he faltered before he could get up. Despite this being Roman’s vision, it was clear it had taken a toll on both brothers. Roman wondered why. It had been a strong vision but they’d had stronger and ended up better off than this.

“You two good?” Kevin asked casually. Roman envied him. The petranite was gone and he looked perfectly fine, comfortable even. He couldn’t remember what it felt like to not have any pain. “That looked like a bad one.”

Roman tried to respond but his vocal chords weren’t quite responding the way he wanted them to. “Nng.”

Servantis released the straps holding Kevin down. “You’re free to go, Kevin. Take the twins and meet Leander in the training room. You’re late for your lesson.”

“Sure thing,” Kevin responded, sitting up and massaging his wrists. He hopped off the machine and cast a glance over his shoulder to the twins. “Coming?”

Roman and Remus scrambled off the table, nearly face planting upon stepping off. Kevin caught them both with one hand and quickly dragged them out before Servantis could spare them another glance.

* * *

“So what’s your favorite alien?”

Remus glanced up at Phil incredulously, beyond shocked he would ask something like that. Phil rarely talked to the Rooter kids outside of training, if ever. Remus thought he might’ve misheard him but the expectant look on the Plumber’s face told him otherwise.

Remus wasn’t sure if he liked Phil or not. He was tall and strong which he liked and his hair was awesome but he was always distant and uncaring, not to mention he was vocal about the fact he didn’t like children. That just made Remus all the more interested. Out of everyone on the station, Phil was the most fun to annoy. He could bother him without fear of physical injury and still get a pretty good reaction.

Still, he was a mean fighting machine. Along with Leander, Phil was the one who trained the twins, Kevin, Manny, Helen, and Pierce in combat and Remus had to say he was good at his job. He was strict with his conditioning schedules and stricter when it came to practicing the moves themselves which meant Remus couldn’t cut loose and have fun but Remus noticed his improvement. He could spar with Manny or Kevin and hold his own despite their size difference and he could face off against Helen and Pierce pretty well even if they were harder to hit.

But the kids’ interaction with Phil was always impersonal which made this question all the more out of character.

“Come on,” Phil said in a relaxed manner. “I know you kids all sneak down to the lower levels and look at the aliens down there. Which is your favorite?”

“The Petrosapien,” Roman responded immediately and Remus wasn’t surprised. He got along with Petro well and the species physique and regality suited him well.

“Polymorph,” Remus said after a moment. As much as he liked Argit and the  Planchakule, Poly always stood out to him. He was so cool! He was like slime but also a person at the same time. Remus found that fascinating. 

Phil cocked an eyebrow but said nothing. He clapped Remus on the shoulder and deviated from the path. “You two go on ahead. I’ll join you in the lab later.”

Remus paused to watch the man walk away but Roman didn’t seem bothered by it so he didn’t let it bother him either. Turning his attention back to the path he’d walked dozens of times these past two years, he followed Roman into the lab.

Servantis was tapping away at his computer when the twins walked in and Kevin was already strapped down in the middle of that three paneled contraption. Servantis had been obsessing over that thing these past few months but Remus had no idea what it was. All he knew that there were a few more cables connected to the third space today, making the two halves symmetrical. 

“Roman, come here,” Servantis said without so much as a greeting. “Remus, sit over here with me.”

Remus remained silent and sat down on one of the swivel chairs, too caught up in watching Roman lie down on the table beside the one Kevin was strapped in to spin around like he usually did. Roman looked as relaxed as could be but unease was sloshing around under Remus’s skin. He didn’t know why.

“Are you sure you’re ready to involve another person?” Kevin questioned.

“Hush,” Servantis told him without looking up from securing the leather straps around Roman’s wrists. Remus clenched his jaw. How could he be so relaxed? “I’ve run all the tests. I’m certain it will work. Even if it doesn’t, I can record the error and reattempt this with the spare.”

Remus frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that but before he could speak up, Phil was pushing the door open. Remus turned at the noise and saw him dragging an unconscious Petro behind him. He sensed Roman wince. It wasn’t easy for either twin to see their friend unconscious.

“Put it on the empty table,” Servantis ordered with a loose wave in the third panel’s direction. Phil grunted in acknowledgement and threw Petro onto the metal plank roughly. Remus winced. Flesh or not, that had to hurt. Maybe it was best Petro was knocked out.

“I’ll be back with the other one in a minute,” Phil said and headed for the door. Remus felt a flash of fear in his belly as realization dawned on him. Was Poly next? Phil had asked about their favorite aliens then brought out Roman’s friend… Did that mean Poly was in danger? Remus slapped that thought away. Of course not. This wasn’t anything dangerous. Right?

Servantis strapped Petro down even though that probably wasn’t necessary and began glancing over the machinery one last time. Remus’s fingers curled around the edge of his seat and nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Leander shot him a humorless smile of greeting and withdrew his hand, folding them on the desk he was leaned over. “I wanted to watch.”

“Watch what?”

Remus didn’t get a response because that moment, Servantis activated the machine.

Energy surged up the cables on the left where Petro was. Still unconscious, he didn’t react in the slightest. The energy traveled toward the middle section where Kevin was. He grinned, eyes wild, and cackled. “Oh Servantis! You really outdid yourself this time! The energy output on this thing rules!”

Remus had no idea what that meant but he couldn’t help but curl his arms in on himself as the surge of energy traveled toward Roman.

And Roman screamed.

Remus lunged, trying to rush to his brother’s side, but firm hands quickly seized his arms, keeping him from moving. He struggled against them, kicking the chair under him. It hurt but he didn’t care. He just had to get to Roman. “Let me go!”

Leander was still awkwardly leaned over the table when he grabbed Remus so he didn’t exactly have leverage. Remus was sure that if he thrashed long enough, he could escape his grip but Leader was stronger than expected and managed to wrap his arms around Remus from behind, keeping him from moving and forcing him to watch.

The horrible sound of bones cracking was accompanied by the sound of glass breaking. Remus didn’t know which was worse. Probably the bones. Normally he didn’t have a problem with these things but knowing it was his brother…

Roman howled in agony as peranite coated his body but it didn’t stop there. It kept layering and growing until Remus wasn’t sure if Roman’s body was changing or he was just being drowned in crystal. He didn’t know and he didn’t know which was worse. Part of him wanted to look away but he couldn’t. This was Roman. He had to watch.

The process continued and Remus could swear his heart stopped beating out of fear. He stopped struggling against Leander and could only gape in horror as his brother’s body was swallowed up and broken into something else.

He wasn’t being suffocated in peranite at least but Remus wasn’t sure if this was better. He lost track of Roman’s body parts but new hands were sprouting from growing limbs and that was almost a comfort. It wasn’t until his sharp, agular head formed and Remus saw a pair of red eyes open and a chiseled, crystal jaw open to gasp for air that Remus felt his heart start again.

“Roman?”

Servantis was on his feet and sweeping over to him immediately. He approached him methodically and tapped his chin, breaking into a cold smile when Roman turned his head and groaned. “Fascinating.” 

“Roman!” Remus cried and tried to run to his brother- Was that thing even his brother anymore? No, of course he was- but Leander’s grip remained strong.

“Should I put him down?” Leader asked, finally freeing himself from the counter and straightening.

“Yes, bring him over here. Move the Petrosapian. Both of them. Phil should be here momentarily.”

Remus didn’t know what he was most afraid or who he was most afraid for but that fear made him go rigid as Leader picked him up and carried him across the room. Eyes locked on Roman, he couldn’t find the will to fight. He was scared stiff.

Servantis pushed Roman and Roman fell on the ground with a clang. Roman groaned again and tried to sit up but he seemed disoriented, like he was waking up from a vision.

Servantis strapped Remus down and if he wasn’t so terrified, he would’ve been surprised the leather was still intact. A moment later, Phil stepped in holding Poly’s Anti-Gravity Projector with the Polymorph close behind. He tossed the projector over to Servantis, forcing the pile of goop flying through the air after it. Servantis caught it with ease and shoved Poly where Petro used to be- apparently Leander moved him when Remus wasn’t paying attention- and switched the Projector off. Poly went limp and collapsed into a puddle on the table.

Kevin was silent, lost between eying Poly uneasily and gaping at Roman with wide eyes. Unfortunately for him, Servantis didn’t give him the chance to speak before firing up the machine again.

This time, Remus couldn’t see the flow of energy from the left and through Kevin but he certainly felt it. It slammed into him like a thunderbolt and reached deep inside him. He screamed as his insides turned to jelly. Bones and organs, he swore he could feel them destroying themselves. His skin felt like it was on fire, bubbling like boiling water. His entire body felt like water, or at least some kind of liquid. He felt solid and squishy and fluid at the same time and he hated it.

Black and white filled his vision. He wasn’t sure if it was from the pain or if a vision was coming. He hoped for the latter. Visions usually disconnected him from reality and he could really use a disconnect right now.

To his luck, the white spots kept expanding and the world melted away around him but the pain didn’t fade. He couldn’t hear his screams anymore but the pain was still there.

An invisible hand touched him but it didn’t hit anything solid, almost sinking into him. He forced his eyes open and saw a streak of blue floating on a sea of white. The vision was clear but Blue’s image was flickering. Slowly, it morphed into something human and a man with glasses and a cardigan tied around his shoulders was standing over him with the most sympathetic expression on his face.

“Hang in there, kiddo,” he whispered and then the vision was swamped with black.

Remus's head snapped back only he didn’t have a head. He didn’t have a body and he knew it wasn’t one of those disassociated sensations he often had after visions. The pain was fading ever so slowly but that didn’t change the fact he had no body. It wasn’t numb, he could feel metal against his… something. He couldn’t tell what. Hands, back, legs, it was none of them and all of them at the same time.

His vision was a sea of black and green. He tried to take a breath to wash away the panic but he found he couldn’t. No body meant no mouth, no nose, no lungs. He couldn’t breathe.

He had no body and he couldn’t breathe. What was happening?

A loud noise filled his mind and suddenly he could move again.

He felt something pulling and he reached out for it. To his surprise, liquid became solid and a hand formed. Instinct took over and he floated upward, the puddle that made up his form molding into arms, hands, legs, and whatever else he was missing just a moment ago.

He looked down at himself and green filled his vision. Startled, he stumbled back but didn’t fall. He looked up to see a small metal device hovering over him. It was an Anti-Gravity Projector. Poly’s Anti-Gravity Projector.

“Ah. You’re awake,” a voice said and Remus looked over to see Servantis casually sitting at his desk, writing notes.

“You! What did you do to us?” Remus demanded and he surged forward, his liquid form responding to his nonexistent mind’s commands flawlessly. Phil rushed toward him, trying to grab him, but Remus weaved through his fingers like water. He stopped, startled, and started down at himself. He was made of goo. Bright, green goo. “What am I?”

“You’re an Amalgam. An Osmosian-Polymorph Amalgam specifically,” Servantis said, eyes wide with excitement. “A human-alien fusion. This is monumental.”

Remus was positive he’d be hyperventilating if that was physically possible. He looked over to Roman who was still on the ground. He was sitting up, staring at his new Petrosapien form. When his eyes met Remus’s, the new Polymorph felt his whole world shatter. 

“We’re monsters.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case any of you are nerds like me and know Polymorphs are single-celled organisms, ignore the fact that the science in this chapter doesn’t really make any sense. Remus either had to be a Polymorph (Goop) or a Planchakule (Juryrigg) which was an impossible decision. I mean, insane gremlin or 200 lbs ball of slime? They're both so fitting. But I went with Goop. I love Jury Rigg but he's kind of OP and I don't want Remus to be completely insane.
> 
> For Roman, I just like Petrosapiens (Diamondhead). The plans for this story were scrapped from the plans for a sequel to a story that I abandoned. Believe me, that story did nt deserve to see the light of day but I had some good ideas there. In that story, a Lenopan was going to attend the Plumber Academy and a human was going to be amalgamated into a Petrosapien. Those two characters' backgrounds were reworked into Roman and Patton's backstories. But Petrosapien is fitting, don't you think? Strong, noble warriors but they're also known to be performers. Very Roman.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time skip. A year has passed since Chapter 4.
> 
> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:  
> Necrofriggian (Big Chill’s Species), Loboan (Blitzwolfer’s Species), Revonnahgander (Rook’s Species), Nagasapien (Ssserpent’s Species), Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstorm’s Species), Lenopan (Cousin Lucy’s Species), Tetramand (Four Arms’ Species), Galvan (Grey Matter’s Species), Kineceleran (XLR8’s Species), Appoplexian (Rath’s Species), Splixson (Ditto’s Species), Florauna (Wildvine’s Species), Chimera Sui Generis (Vilgax’s Species), Kuisana (Water Hazard’s Species), Polymorph (Goop’s Species)

Deceit knew this was going to be a lot of work when he suggested it but he was willing to work however hard he needed to. Turned out to be a lot more work than he predicted but his stance did not change.

Class took up most of the squad’s time but they still found time to train in their after hours. Conditioning, studying the techniques they’d stolen, practicing, sparring, every moment was filled with blood, sweat, and tears. 

Well, they didn’t actually bleed all that often. They weren’t working with anything sharp but they fell fairly frequently and occasionally skids drew blood. And none of them could actually sweat. None of them had sweat glands. Actually, Virgil could kind of sweat. He leaked sometimes but it might’ve just been his outer layer of ice melting from the heat of exercise. And none of them cried, or at least they didn’t talk about it.

But the point still stands. Deceit, Virgil, Scout, Rook, Patton, and Logan fought through burning muscles, nights where sleep was lost thanks to aches and bruises, endless hours of repeating a move, and so much more.

And it was worth it.

Deceit physically felt stronger. The muscles in his body felt stronger and he could see the improvement when he fought. He could safely say he was proud of how far he and his team had come.

But they’d never had the chance to show it. They still got kicked out of combat lessons more often than not and none of them had ever gotten the chance to spar against a classmate outside the team or fight in front of an instructor. 

Until today.

Today was the day of a test of sorts. Originally it was going to be a round robin tournament for the instructors to assess each student’s abilities. Then the Magistrata showed up to see how the students were doing and it became an elimination tournament. Only the best for the leader of the Plumbers, after all.

Deceit was nervous when his team faced off their first opponents but then they won. And then they won again. And again. And now here they were facing off against the best team at the Academy in front of the Magistrata. 

“Luna Lobo, Luna Lobo, Luna Lobo,” Virgil chanted softly to himself in panic as he pulled his wings in tight around himself. “We’re going to fight in front of the Magistrata.”

The team was standing at the edge of the court they were going to fight in. The Magistrata, Magister Hulka, and Magister Coronach were standing on an elevated platform to oversee the fighting and the edges of the court were lined with the other students and teachers from the Academy. Confused murmurs filled the massive room and Deceit was positive they were about them. Afterall, not everyone had seen them fight the other rounds and surely they were surprised that a bunch of nobodies made it to the final round.

“Ignore her,” Scout told his brother. He flicked his tail and jabbed a claw across the court to where the other team was standing. “Keep your eyes on the enemy, bro. This isn’t different than any other fight.”

“Only if you ignore who we’re fighting against and the stakes of the outcome of this particular fight,” Logan spoke up, tapping his claws together.

Scout flattened his ears and glared. “Which is what I’m saying we do, crab-brain.”

“Insults aside, Scout is right,” Patton spoke up, his Lenopan form bubbling with excitement. Or maybe unease. Deceit couldn’t tell. “Ignore the crowd and the Magistrata. This is what we’ve been waiting for. This is our chance to test how far we’ve come. This is the best team at the Academy we’re about to face. We can do this.”

“Who exactly are we facing?” Rook asked, staring at the other team. It was a big court, easily a hundred meters across, so they weren’t all too visible but Rook had good eyes. “I don’t recognize any of them.”

“Aoba Zak, a male Galvan; Hala Yama, a female Kineceleran; Ilika Stone, a female Tetramand; Thorton Glutton, a male Appoplexian; Pleo Beander, a male Splixson; and Shrap Kato, a male Kuisana,” Logan provided. His eyes narrowed in thought. “If I recall correctly, they excel because of their mastery of their species abilities- Galvan intelligence, Kineceleran speed, Tetramand strength, Appoplexian technique, Splixson number strategies, Kuisana range- and ability to work as a unit. They have a wide range of abilities.”

“We do too,” Patton said and no one argued with him. The team did have a wide range of abilities but they didn’t quite mesh together like their foes. Still, no one wanted to point out the obvious.

“We can do this,” Deceit said, surprised by the determination in his own voice. He was met by a series of smiles and nods.

“Both teams on the field!” Magister Hulka barked and both teams did as they were told. Deceit swallowed away his nervousness and primed his fangs to fight. “Begin!”

Immediately, Virgil took to the sky and Patton expanded his form to stretch up high beside him. Widening as much as possible, Patton began firing balls of sludge overhead and directly at the opposing team.

“Virgil, make sure-” Logan called but Virgil was already freezing the Kuisana’s water projectiles before they could hit Patton. 

Deceit and Rook exchanged a glance before rushing forward. They were the team’s only exclusively close combat fighters and that meant they had to play their cards right and pick their opponent wisely.

Deceit would’ve liked to attack the Kuisana and keep him from taking any more shots at Patton and Virgil but it didn’t look like he’d be that lucky. The Tetramand rushed at him and Deceit narrowly managed to avoid her blows. The Tetramand let out a battle cry and threw two fists at him. He narrowly avoided it and snaked his way up her arms quickly, constricting her to the best of his ability. He managed to get two arms trapped but he knew it wouldn’t last long. Thinking fast, he sank all three sets of his fangs into her flesh.

She cried out, clearly not expecting his teeth to be able to penetrate her thick hide, and tried to shake him off but Deceit hung on, pumping venom into her blood as fast as he could. Nothing fatal, he knew she could take it, but he knew he wasn’t holding her forever and this would slow her down significantly and maybe spell her doom in the long run.

Clinging like this, Deceit couldn’t do much to help his friends but he could watch. The Kinceleran and Scout were facing off against each other, the Kinceleran going to the strike and retreat strategy while Scout blasted her with his sonic howls and clawed her whenever she got too close. The Splixson had split and was trying to tackle the Loboan but Virgil swooped down low to freeze the clones to the metal floor anytime they got too close for his liking.

“No fair!” one of the Splixson copies cried as Virgil iced him down.

Virgil soared back upward, spinning to dodge a projectile from the Kuisana. “All is fair in love and war.”

“Look out below!” Patton cried happily as he surged his muddy form upward only to bring it cashing down. Logan didn’t have to look away from his fight with the Appoplexian to levitate into the air, snagging Rook from his fight with the Galvan and lifting them both up high into the air with his telekinesis. His exoskeleton lifted and a field of electricity surrounded him as his brain became exposed. A force field surrounded them and protected them as a wave of mud came down.

Virgil plucked Scout off the ground but Deceit wasn’t so lucky. Squeezing his eyes shut, he ducked behind the Tetramand to the best of his ability but most of his body still got slammed with mud. Luckily, he could say the same for all six members of the opposite team.

The Tetramand screamed in rage and grabbed Deceit by the arm before hurling him across the court. Deceit yelped and tried to find his balance but a hand stretched up from the sea of mud and caught him before he could fall. It shifted and molded and a muddy face appeared, grinning at him. “How’d I do?”

“Amazing,” Deceit purred, flicking his tongue. “They didn’t know what hit them! Now throw me at the Appoplexian. I don’t want Logan to have to fight him again.”

Patton saluted him before his face melted back into the mass of mud. Deceit sank into the mud slightly before he was flung across the field. Twisting in the air, he managed to face forward and slammed into the Appoplexian with snapping teeth.

“Hey! Let me tell you something snake man whose species Thorton can’t remember the name of but knows is bad! No one gets Thorton’s fur muddy except Thorton!”

“Noted!” Deceit said as he leaned back to avoid getting boxed in the face. He tilted his head back, getting a brief, upside down view of the battle field. 

Virgil was fighting the Kinceleran now. He was trying to freeze her but kept missing. The mud on the court was slowing her enough that he had time to turn intangible each time she tried to strike so he had that going for him at least. Logan was facing the Splixson now, using his telekinesis and force fields to keep them from getting too close or doing much of anything really. Rook and Scout were squaring off against the Tetramand but he couldn’t see the Kuisana or the Galvan anywh- Oh wait. The Galvan was stuck in a force field with a couple Splixson copies. Scratch that. He couldn’t see the Kuisana.

“Someone find Shrap before she waters down Patton!” Deceit called. With Patton’s form splattered across the entire field like this, he was an easy target but Deceit couldn’t afford to look for her himself at the moment.

Straightening so he was upright again, Deceit narrowly avoided a punch from the Appoplexian.

“Hold still!” the Appoplexian roared as Deceit pressed low to the ground and slithered around to get behind him. Fast as lightning, he struck and jumped on him from behind. Wrapping his arms around him, he smothered his mouth and nose in his arms and extra mouths. “Hey! Thorton needs those to breathe!”

“That’s the point!” Deceit hissed and tried to coil the lower half of his body around Appoplexian’s legs to keep him from running around and making his job harder.

Eventually, the Appoplexian’s struggles got weaker and weaker. Deceit was starting to hope the Appoplexian would pass out when a water projectile slammed into the pair, forcing them into the ground and knocking Deceit’s hands away.

“Switch!” Patton cried. He was back in his blobbishly humanoid Lenopan form rather than the wall of mud. He bounced across the field like a stone on the surface of the lake and slammed into the Appoplexian the moment Deceit released him and slithered away.

Rearing up, he searched for whoever Patton had been fighting. He could see Logan throwing the Galvan and the Splixson copies at the Kineceleran as she tried attacking Virgil and Scout and Rook were doing a pretty good job against the Tetramand which left… “Hey you. Come here.”

“Pass,” the Kuisana said as he threw up a protective bubble of water around herself just as Deceit lunged. He slammed into it, hitting his snout painfully, and soon had a clawed hand around his throat. He let out a choked sound as he was lifted up to the Kuisana’s eye level. “Why don’t you-?”

“Forgot about the tail!” Deceit hissed victoriously and lashed out with his lower half to knock the Kuisana’s legs out from under him. The armored alien hit the ground with a clang and Deceit primed himself to coil around him only to realize that wasn’t an option. Kuisana lived in metal shells. He couldn’t suffocate or poison this one. Thinking fast, he whipped him in the face with his tail as hard as he could and sent him flying across the field. The Kuisana’s back slammed into the wall with another clang. He didn’t get up.

“I took out the Appoplexian!” Patton called, stretching his neck up high to observe the rest of the battle.

“I took out the Kuisana,” Deceit added. He looked around the field but knew Patton could see it better than him. “Where should I go?”

“Go grab take out some of the Splixsons! They’re everywhere and I think the Galvan’s lost in there somewhere. I’ll help Rook and Scout with the Tetramand. It looks like your venom got to her.”

Deceit nodded and quickly snaked across the field to slam into a crowd of Splixson copies, sending them flying. “Where’s your original?”

“Him!” the Splixsons cried, all pointing at a different copy. Deceit sighed and snatched them up in his teeth, tossing them as far away as possible. Even if he wasn’t really doing anything, thinning the numbers would make it easier for Logan to do… whatever it was Logan was going. He was sure it was something smart.

“Finally,” Logan sighed and an electric blast shot through the air, hitting the Galvan and knocking him down for the count. Deceit slithered over and used a fanged hand to pull him out of the pile of Splixsons caught in the crossfire and moved him to the edge of the battlefield so no one stepped on him.

A moment later, he heard a thud and he looked up to see the Kineceleran run clean through an intangible Virgil and straight into a wall. Virgil inhaled and blasted her with a wave of ice, freezing her down. “Got one.”

“That leaves…” Deceit trailed off to see Scout and Rook sitting on the Tetramand with the original Splixson dangling from Scout’s maw. Both were breathing hard but their eyes were ablaze with the thrill of the fight.

“We did it!” Patton cried happily, sludging across the field before shifting into his human form in the middle of the group. He was smiling. “Way to go guys!”

Deceit let out a ragged breath and smiled, the adrenaline of battle finally wearing off. Awareness of his surroundings abruptly flooded back into his mind and he froze. He glanced at his friends as they all seemed to come to the same realization as he did.

“Well done,” the Magistrata congratulated, stepping onto the field. Deceit’s team hurried into formation and dipped their heads respectfully as the opposing team picked themselves off the battlefield.

The Magistrata was a strange yet humbling thing. She was a Chimera Sui Generis and certainly looked like one with her cyan skin and the four tentacles atop her head but she was slimmer than some of the Chimera Sui Generis Deceit had seen in his day. Still, she had a commanding presence to her. Her Plumber suit was an ever-present reminder of exactly who she was.

“That was quite impressive,” the Magistrata told them, gesturing for them to look up instead of bowing. “Coronach and Hulka said many things about your opponents but nothing of you. Tell me, what are your names?”

“Rook Blonko,” Rook started. He glanced at his friends beside him and one by one, they stated their names.

“Patton Mann.”

“Virgil Alazraqui.”

“Logan Burton.”

“Scout Alazraqui.”

“Deceit Bradker,” Deceit answered, thanking whatever gods his species were supposed to believe in that his voice didn’t crack. That would’ve been embarrassing. 

“Rook. Patton. Virgil. Logan. Scout. Deceit,” the Magistrata repeated, as if testing out the names. She smiled. “Well done. You’ve caught my attention. You six have impressed me today.”

* * *

It was only when everyone was dismissed and the team was heading back to their dorm rooms that Rook let himself explode.

“Brallada! That was unthinkable!” he cheered, throwing his arms around Virgil and Scout’s shoulders. “We just impressed the Magistrata!”

“And the rest of the Academy,” Scout added, eyes just as excited. His tail was wagging and he was making no effort to hide it. “We kicked tail today!”

“I saw you two nail that Tetramand with that Redwing slam maneuver. You should have seen the look on her face when she realized you were using her own people’s moves against her!” Virgil said, grinning, before glancing at Patton. “And that mud wave! That was such a game changer! And you did it the Polymorph way and stayed in control instead of just flooding everywhere like Lenopans do. That was so awesome, Pat.”

“Thanks kiddo!” Patton replied. “I couldn’t have done it if you weren’t keeping those water blasts away from me.”

“Of course, Patton.”

“I was most impressed with your finishing move on the Kuisana,” Logan told Deceit. “I know that type of combat is not your strong suit but you landed that kick even better than any mammal with legs could.”

“Thanks but that was nothing compared to your moves with your electrical field, Logan,” Deceit said. “I didn’t know you could keep up so many at once and it was awesome seeing you use them to scoop up all those Splixons.”

“Do not sell yourself short,” Rook said, silently proud of using one of the Earth expressions Patton taught him. “If you hadn’t bit the Tetramand-”

“Hey!” a loud voice interrupted and Rook cut off abruptly to look at the figures approaching the group from down the hall. A large Appoplexian was stalking forward with an angry snarl on his face. “How dare the team who kicked Thorton’s team’s butt talk about kicking Thorton’s team’s butt!”

“Oh. It’s you,” Logan said, crossing his claws as he eyed the approaching team. “Come to discuss post-battle reflections?”

“What? No!” the Galvan, Aoba if Rook recalled correctly, cried and stepped in front of the group. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he realized they were blocking the path. Aoba didn’t seem to notice or care though. “We’re not here to be all buddy-buddy, Cerebrocrustacean.” 

“Oh?” Logan said as if he hadn’t read the earlier tone. Knowing Logan, he probably hadn’t. “Well then if you’re not here to practice the common courtesy of comradery, we will be on our way.”

He started forward but the Tetramand, Ilika, put a footdown to block his path. “Not until we’re done with you, you’re not.”

Virgil unfurled his wings and stepped forward challengingly. “Do you want to go?”

The Tetramand started to respond but Rook put up a hand between them. “No, Virgil. We cannot fight them. Not here.”

The Tetramand looked smug and Virgil looked surprised. Rook couldn’t help but give into his inner child.

“And if we did, we all know who would win,” Rook added, lowering his eyes to further taunt the Tetramand. She snarled and started forward only for the Splixson to tap her foot, silently telling her to stop.

“We didn’t come here to fight,” Pleo said. He jabbed a finger out accusingly. “We came here to get you to admit you cheated!”

“Cheated?” Patton echoed, confused. He exchanged a glance with Rook who shrugged. “How could we have cheated? I mean, two Magisters and the Magistrata were standing right there!”

“Cheating would be career suicide,” Scout added, nodding.

“How do you even cheat in a fight?” Virgil questioned aloud. “I mean, you could pay off the other side to throw the fight but none of us have any money and obviously we wouldn’t be here if we’d done that.”

“You cheated!” Pleo repeated loudly.

“How? Without evidence, you have no case,” Logan told them. “And I assure you, there is no evidence.”

“Come on guys,” the Kineceleran Hala sighed, curling her tail. “Maybe they’re that good? We kind of have been slacking lately.”

“No!” Thorton growled. “No one is better than Thorton and his team!”

“Let it go. We worked hard and it paid off. Quit whining and accept you lost this one,” Scout said and started forward. To Rook’s surprise, the others moved aside to let him pass. Hurrying, Rook followed and the team disappeared down the hall. It was time to return to their dorms and resume reading combat texts. Afterall, no rest for the weary. They were going to be the best and they weren’t going to let one victory leave them complacent. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to note that in this chapter I used a writing thing that I don't particularly like using. This mostly a fighting chapter and due to the time skip, the main characters are significantly stronger. However, the rest of the characters don't know. I did that thing where the antagonists seem overly antagonized which wasn't my intention but I feel like their reactions were appropriate. We probably won't see these antagonists again and I didn't mean for them to come off as stuck up but they kinda did.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:  
> Oporq (Argit’s Species), Kineceleran (XLR8’s Species), Tetramand (Four Arms’s Species), Pyronite (Heatblast’s Species), Petrosapien (Diamondhead’s Species), Polymorph (Goop’s Species), Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstorm’s Species), Aerophibian (Jetray’s Species), Terroranchula (Phil’s Species), Prypiatosian-B (NRG’s Species), Vulpimancer (Wildmutt’s Species), Planchakule (Juryrigg’s Species), Osmosian (Kevin’s Species), Amalgam

Just over two years ago, Roman discovered he wasn’t human. That was something that took getting used to. But an Osmosian wasn’t too different from a human and he’d been dealing with his powers his whole life. It wasn’t too big of a change.

Becoming a Petrosapien, that was a big change.

The emotional… uh, adjustment was rough and Remus was just as broken inside as he was. If they didn’t have each other, Roman knew he wouldn’t be standing here today.

Kevin felt horrible after the Amalgam transformation but as Roman and Remus learned to love their new bodies, Kevin’s guilt faded and he was more willing to help Servantis with his experiments. Now, nearly a year after the first Amalgam transformation, all the Rooters, Plumbers and kids alike, were Amalgams.

Servantis the Cerebrocrustacean, Leander the Prypiatosian-B, Phil the Terrorchula, Swift the Aerophibian, Manny the Tertamand, Helen the Kineceleran, Pierce the Oporq… Being alien was the norm now. 

Roman walked down the cell block halls, the heavy sound of peranite hitting the floor with each step no longer strange. Remus whirred as he walked and his liquid form spun with him and he seemed completely comfortable with it. It’d been months since he tried forming legs to walk with. Roman had to say they all settled into their new bodies well.

But not everything settled well. After each mutation, an alien disappeared from the cells and Roman felt the loss of their presence deeply. 

Except for Argit. Argit was fine.

“Hey Argit,” Roman greeted as he settled down against the post of the nearest cell. “Hey Pyro.”

“Sup.” Pyro saluted and sat down in the usual visiting manner, facing the opposite direction with his back against his side of the post.

“You two seem down,” Argit commented, leaning on the bars of his cage. “Remus is lacking his usual, eh…”

“Stinkiness?” Remus offered. “I didn’t feel like digging through the trash this morning.”

“Wait, so you don’t naturally smell bad?” Roman said. “Remus!”

Remus formed arms to shrug and made the necessary limb to sit. “But you’re right, Argit. We’ve, um… We’ve been meaning to ask you guys something.”

“What is it?” Pyro asked. “Fire away.”

Roman shifted a leg so he could rest his arm on it. He gestured down the cell block. “Don’t pretend like you haven’t noticed how many empty cells there are.”

Pyro frowned. “Yeah. It’s been quiet. I don’t know where they are though. At first I thought Servantis moved them to other cells after his experiments to, I dunno, observe them or something but I thought they’d be back by now.”

“I’m sure there’s just another cell block on the level,” Argit said passively, boredly picking at his claws. “I guess I lucked out with Pierce. But if you really want to know, just keep an eye out next time he does one of them Amalgam things.”

“Everyone’s been transformed though,” Roman pointed out, confused. Argit merely flicked his ear dismissively. Not a moment later, the sound of footsteps sounded through the level.

“Hey, Argit!” Kevin greeted, slapping a hand on the rodent’s cage. “Hey, Remus, Roman. Hey, Pyro.”

“Hey there, Kev.”

“Hi Kevin.”

“Sup.”

“Who’s the new guy?” Remus asked and Roman suddenly noticed a thin, dark-skinned boy standing behind Kevin.

“This is Alan,” Kevin said, putting a hand on Alan’s shoulders to force him forward a bit. “Alan, these two are the other kids that live upstairs, Roman and Remus. They’re twins. And this is my pal Argit and that over there is Pyro.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Alan greeted but his eyes were all on Pyro. Taking the chance to show off a bit, Pyro let his fingers spark with embers. Alan’s eyes widened. “Woah! That’s awesome!”

“Thanks,” Pyro said but Argit snorted.

“Keep feeding his ego,” Argit said, crossing his arms. “Pyronites spend most of their lives perfecting their abilities. Doesn’t get much of a chance to practice locked up in that cell like that.”

Alan glanced at him then at the twins. “How come some of the aliens are locked up and some of them aren’t?”

“No one knows,” Remus said ominously. Roman fired a shard of peranite at him but it passed through Remus’s slimy form harmlessly. “Hey!”

Roman ignored him. “Me, Remus, and everyone upstairs are Amalgams. We were human when we got here. Servantis doesn’t trust everyone down here or something. I’m not really sure. We’re not actually allowed to be down here so don’t go tattling off to Servantis, alright?”

Alan nodded and said something but his voice sounded distant. Roman put a bulky hand on his angular face. “Oh no, not now.”

“Are you okay?” Alan asked, sounding confused.

“They’re Osmosians, like me only they get visions,” Kevin told him. “As long as they’re together, they can just wait it out so we can just-”

Kevin’s voice got quieter and quieter and Roman’s vision became spotty. He felt Remus press up against him and then the world went white.

Browns and greys bled at the corners of his vision, painting a familiar setting in his mind and soon Creativity and his brother were standing in the living room. Distantly, Creativity could hear music playing. He recognized it but it didn’t spark any feelings of nostalgia. It wasn’t what he usually listened to. Who was playing the music? He looked over to the kitchen to see a man in a purple patchwork hoodie sitting on the table.

The man looked up without prompting and frowned at the twins. “Something’s wrong.”

“What?” Creativity questioned, alarmed. He glanced around. Everything seemed right. Was there danger? Where was Logic? And… and… Wait. There were supposed to be others here, weren’t there?

“Something,” the man in purple repeated, putting a hand out for emphasis.

“I hate it when you’re just vague,” his brother sighed and draped his arms over Creativity's shoulder. He put a hand on his wrist, enjoying the warmth and solidity under his touch, only to pull his hand away and frown. What a weird thing to think about.

“I’m Anxiety,” Anxiety said casually, running his hand through his hair. With his bangs out of the way, Creativity got a clear view of the dark eyeshadow under his eyes. “I sound the alarm, nothing more. Too much work. You’re Creativity. You do the rest.”

Anxiety gestured loosely, waving at the two of them and Creativity nearly doubled over. His brother’s weight was suddenly gone from his shoulders but it didn’t feel… wrong? That ever-present hollow feeling was gone. Not completely but some of it was, like a piece of him was back together. Anxiety called them both Creativity, did that mean the two of them… Were they both-?

“Something’s wrong,” Anxiety repeated and Creativity’s vision began fading. “Figure it out.”

Pain shot up his body and blinding light seared his vision. Roman gasped aloud and jerked awake, feeling Remus’s slime slide off of him in the process. He tried to sit up only for the pain to increase tenfold. He groaned and laid back down against the prison’s floor.

“Are you okay?” Alan asked worriedly, crouching over him.

“I’m just dandy,” Roman groaned and turned his head to face Remus. He was having a bit of trouble getting his Anti-Gravity Projector to put him back together but he managed to find his face and two pairs of eyes met, a silent message passing between them. Whenever Servantis decided to Amalgamate Alan, they’d be there.

* * *

When Pyro was taken from his cell and Alan was called to Servantis’s lab, Remus and Roman snapped to attention immediately. Remus was still feeling garbled from the vision a few days prior but Anxiety’s warning- Purple’s warning- still rang in his ears. Figurative ears. Ha, Logic would be proud of him for remembering to call them figurative. He couldn’t even remember what it felt like to have ears.

His gelatinous form and the control the Anti-Gravity Projector gave him made slipping into the lab easy. Roman, unfortunately, was stuck peeking in through the door while Remus could slip inside and hide in the vents and behind lab equipment. He could find the perfect angle to watch and have a clear view of the whole room and no one would notice.

He settled on nestling himself behind one of Servantis’s computers where he had a clear view of the trio of lab tables. Pyro was already bolted down and Kevin was lying in his place on the middle table, as relaxed as could be. Alan looked a bit hesitant but Servanatis was talking him through it with that soothingly sly voice of his.

“Just lie down, Alan,” Servantis instructed and the boy did as he was told. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

Remus switched off his Anti-Gravity Projector’s mic and laughed as loud as he could in his head.

Remus heard the door crack open and he looked up abruptly, terrified that someone had caught his brother but it was just Phil with Roman nowhere in sight. He said nothing and casually leaned against the door frame. Phil was usually the one to take the aliens away after the Amalgamation. Remus scooted closer to him to follow the moment he stepped out.

Servantis checked over the machinery one last time before pulling the lever and activating the machine. Energy surged from Pyro’s limp form, channeling into Kevin who winced and redirected it toward Alan.

“Hey, that kinda tickles,” Alan giggled and Remus felt a flash of relief. Or maybe jealousy. He was glad Servantis improved the process to make it less painful but he was still a bit bitter it was him and Roman who were the initial test subjects. Better them than someone else, he supposed.

“How do you feel?” Servantis asked.

“I don’t feel any different,” Alan said before he burst into flames and a layer of rock began forming on his skin. “Woah!”

Not waiting to hear the rest of Alan’s reaction and Servantis’s obervations, Phil stepped forward, taking Pyro into his massive Terroranchula arms, and began dragging him toward the door. Remus slipped out from behind the computer and slid across the ground as discreetly as he could.

Phil paused when he stepped out the door and glanced over at Roman who was sitting on the ground casually. Remus wanted to face palm but he knew hiding in plain sight was better than nothing. Phil didn’t seem bothered by his presence. “Where’s your brother?”

“Training with Helen and Pierce,” Roman lied easily. His eyes flickered to Remus for a split second but he managed to keep them on Phil. “I’m just waiting for Kevin. We need even teams to spar.”

Phil grunted in acknowledgment and continued on his way. Remus scurried up the wall and pressed up against the ceiling and followed him.

Phil began the descent down the stairs and for a moment, Remus thought he was returning Pyro to his cell on the lower levels but he passed them without even blinking in the cells’ direction. This was when he realized there was yet another level below.

He was glad he had his voice box muted because if he hadn’t, he would have gasped and blown his cover.

It was a hangar. An open hangar. The Null Void’s red skies and rocky platforms were visible and there wasn’t even a layer of glass covering it. Something in Remus itched to fly out there and explore but he kept himself grounded. His friend was unconscious and Phil was dragging him onto a javelin. Remus slid across the ground as fast as he could and threw himself through the closing doors before they fully shut.

Phil took the pilot’s seat and Remus wormed his way under the passenger seat. Pyro thrown awkwardly onto the ground behind them. Remus longed to reach out and make sure he was okay but he wasn’t supposed to be here and he couldn’t do that without getting caught.

The javelin’s engine roared to life and Phil began pulling out of the hangar. As unhappy as he was, Remus couldn’t deny the excitement bubbling up inside him. In all the time he’d lived in the Null Void, he’d never left the station. He couldn’t really see out the windows from down here but he knew he was outside the station’s limits and that in itself was thrilling in the most illicit way.

Remus had never been on a ship before but he had to say he liked it. He relaxed his form into a puddle and let the vibrations of the floor ripple his body. He knew it was kind of weird but it felt really nice. Not as nice as a TV or radio but it was something new and he liked it.

He wasn’t sure how long they’d been flying but it didn’t feel like long when Phil shut off the accelerator and put the javelin into hover. He got to his feet, grabbing Pyro, and headed for the door. Remus shot out from his hiding place and slid into a nearby vent to watch.

The Null Void was beautiful, in Remus’s opinion. The skies were the most stunning blend of colors and the floating rock formations fascinated him but he’d never seen them up close before. Looking down, he realized there was a lot to them he didn’t know.

There was something moving down on the ground below. Remus narrowed his eyes, trying to make out what they were. After a few moments, he realized it was a pack of Vulpimancers and they were circling the ship. It was like they were expecting something.

Later, Remus would beat himself up for not realizing what they were expecting sooner.

In a single, careless motion, Phil tossed Pyro out the door to the roaring Vulpimancers below.

“No!” Remus cried. Or he tried. His speakers were still muted. Still, he lurched forward in alarm even though there was nothing he could do and his Anti-Gravity Projector banged loudly against the roof of the vent.

Phil whipped around in an instant and the grate on the vent was suddenly gone. Phil’s massive, clawed hand was clutching his Anti-Gravity Projector and dragging his body out with it but Remus hardly noticed. He now had a clear view of Pyro plummeting out of the ship.

The Pyronite hit the rock with a loud noise but Remus could barely hear it above the howls of the Vulpimancers. In a heartbeat, they pounced and a horrible sound filled the air. Remus could normally stomach these kinds of things but seeing Pyro being torn apart, it was too real. He squeezed his eyes shut and looked away.

Phil slammed the javelin door shut and snarled in his face. “What are you doing here?”

Remus tried to respond but with Phil holding his Anti-Gravity Projector, he couldn’t turn his voice box back on. This only seemed to further anger the Terroranchula.

“Answer me!” he barked and Remus could do nothing but claw at his hand with goopy limbs.

Phil finally seemed to realize he couldn’t speak and gave up, returning to the pilot seat to turn the ship around. He kept Remus’s Anti-Gravity Projector in his hand but Remus didn’t care. Even if he was able to move, he didn’t know if he could. The sight of Pyro falling to his death kept repeating in his mind.

Kine, Tetra, Petro, Poly, Cerebro, Aero, Terro and Pryp… They’d all been used in the Amalgam experiment and they’d all disappeared. Had they been thrown out to the wild Vulpimancers too? Remus felt sick. His friends… He spelled Poly’s own doom when he told Phil he liked Polymorphs. He started down at himself and his liquid green form. He loved his new body but it came with the death of one of his best friends. How could he go on knowing that?

Numbly, he got lost in his thoughts and didn’t even notice they’d returned to the station until Phil stormed into the main room of the station, an empty room lined with windows, and threw his Anti-Gravity Projector on the ground harshly.

It bounced and Remus’s form was pulled after it. Thankfully, large crystal hands caught him. “What the hell, Phil?”

Remus was relieved to be back with Roman and even more relieved that he switched his voice box back on. Shrieking, he cried, “He killed him!”

He was met with a series of confused stares. Servantis, Leander, Swift, Kevin, Manny, Alan, Helen, Pierce, they were all here too. Good. They needed to be here. He needed to know what happened straight from the horses’ mouth and he needed the other Amalgam kids to hear too.

“What do you mean?” Manny asked, crossing all four of his bulky arms. “Who killed who?”

“Them! Phil! He just killed Pyro! I saw him,” Remus cried and whipped around to face the Rooters. “Kine, Tetra, Petro, Poly, Cerebro, Aero, Terro and Pryp… They’re all gone. Did you throw them out too?”

Servantis seemed unfazed. “The Amalgamation process drained their genetic potential. I wouldn’t be able to use them again.”

“Wait, our transformations killed them?” Helen cried, lashing her tail and wheeling on Servantis. “I thought you said it was safe!”

Pierce’s eyes were wide, like he was in shock. “Argit is fine so maybe some of them are…”

“The Oporq was a fluke,” Servantis said dismissively. “The Amalgamation failed and an incomplete Oporq Amalgam was made. Pierce was too resistant for the process to work properly. The rat can still be used for further experiments.”

“Resistant?” Alan questioned as horror dawned on his face. “I went along with it. Does that mean I-”

“No,” Remus said firmly. “It was Phil who tossed Pyro out that door and Servantis who told him. We never would’ve gone along with this if he knew what was really happening. We’re not to blame. Servantis is.”

Servantis remained passive. “You are childish. In the real world, we can’t hold onto things for mere… sentimental value. I lost use for them so I got rid of them.”

“So what? You’re going to throw us away when we get boring too?” Roman demanded, shifting into a defensive stance. Manny widened his footing and raised his arms and Helen crouched, ready to run. Swift leaned forward and Leander put a hand to his visor. Remus realized they were getting ready to fight.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Pierce announced and the spikes on his body extended, tearing through his clothing before firing at the Rooters.

Swift was in the air in an instant, blasting them down before they could hit. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“No, they shouldn’t have,” Servantis said and the covers on his head lifted, exposing his brain. Electricity sparked and traveled across the room, striking everyone in range. Manny, Kevin, Roman, Helen, Pierce, and Alan all cried out and collapsed while the blast passed through Remus’s form harmlessly. Terrified, he looked up at the Rooters who were closing in on him.

“Stupid kid. Shoulda just stayed home,” Phil grunted and grabbed his Anti-Gravity Projector. He slammed it into the ground and Remus’s world went black, forcing him deep into the dreamless realm of unconsciousness.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another time skip. About a year from Chapter 6.  
> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:  
> Necrofriggian (Big Chill’s Species), Loboan (Blitzwolfer’s Species), Revonnahgander (Rook’s Species), Nagasapien (Ssserpent’s Species), Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstorm’s Species), Lenopan (Cousin Lucy’s Species), Galvan (Grey Matter’s Species)

“Virgil, stop tapping your claws on your bed frame. Deceit, don’t pretend like we can’t hear you talking to yourself,” Logan scolded, indigo eyes flicking between the two. It was a bit difficult with the two in their bunks but it had the same effect nonetheless. “Honestly, you two need to calm down.”

The three roommates were sitting on their respective beds with a tablet open on each of their laps or pillows. Normally Logan would tell them not to use tech on their beds for the sake of bed-sleep association and maintaining their proper circadian rhythms but he was checking his tablet as obsessively as the other two and the dorm only had one chair so he wasn’t really one to talk.

“Sorry,” Virgil said and curled his claws together, rolling onto his back but keeping his eyes on his screen as he rapidly refreshed it. “I’m just so stressed, you know?”

“We’re getting the scores from our finals today,” Deceit reminded, doing the same. With his fanged hands, he couldn’t quite tap the screen as fast as Virgil or Logan but he was refreshing the page as quickly as the rest of them. “These things determine the rest of our futures. If we pass, we become cadets. Plumbers. How are you not nervous?”

“Because our team is the best of the year. We’ve proved it and we are acknowledged as such,” Logan pointed out but even he didn’t know if he was lying or not. He was so antsy he was considering stepping out and letting out some electricity to calm down. “All of us are going to pass.”

“So then why are you spamming the refresh button along with us?”

“I’m just curious as to what my scores are,” Logan said matter of factly. “I must remind you, I am a Cerebrocrustacean. It is in our nature.”

“Whatever,” Virgil grunted fondly. “So if you’re so confident about passing, what are you going to do when you get your badge?”

“I can’t say. When we get our badges, we’re still cadets. Not fully fledged Plumber Agents. Magister Coronach did mention that our scores will come with instructions. Promotion from cadet to agent typically comes with experience so I imagine we’ll be assigned somewhere,” Logan said. “Perhaps even together. I doubt our superiors will break up the units that have been working together for so long.”

“Yeah,” Virgil hummed. “But even if we are split up, we’ll still stay in touch, right?”

“Of course,” Logan said without hesitation, a bit surprised that Virgil would ask such a thing.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Deceit said, flashing his fangs. His tablet beeped and his eyes were suddenly glued to it once more. “Holy shit. Holy shit!”

“What?” Virgil asked, sitting up abruptly. “What happened?”

“I passed! I got- Hold on a sec. The message came with a link to the whole class’s scores and an instruction video. Let me see if I can see your guys’.”

“No need,” Logan said as his tablet lit up. A smile formed on his face and he felt a massive weight lift off his mind. “I passed as well.”

“Me too,” Virgil said, picking up his tablet in a clawed hand. He let out a ragged breath, accidentally frosting over his wooden bed frame. He didn’t seem to care though, throwing up his arms in an uncharacteristic display of excitement. “Luna Lobo. We passed! We should- We should… I don’t know, go find Scout, Rook, and Patton so we can look at our rankings and the follow up video together. Why weren’t we waiting with them in the first place?”

“Privacy of initial reaction?” Deceit guessed with a shrug. “I imagine Patton is screaming his muddy little head off and getting sludge all over the fur boys right now.”

“They’ve had enough time to do that,” Virgil said and jumped off his bed, phasing through it and the wall to land outside. “Come on, let’s go see them!”

Deceit slithered after him in a heartbeat while Logan took a moment longer to levitate after them. “Slow down. I’m not as fast as you two.”

Deceit and Virgil didn’t verbally acknowledge him but they slowed a bit and waited for him to catch up before rocketing down the hall once again. Logan sighed and pumped out a bit more electricity from his cranium to fly just a bit faster. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to see his friends as well.

* * *

When the trio arrived at L233, the door was open and Rook, Patton, and Scout were grinning and laughing in joy.

“Luna Lobo!” Scout howled excitedly as he barreled into his brother. “We all passed! What about you three?”

Virgil nodded excitedly and wrapped his arms and wings around the Loboan in an emotional embrace. “We did too! We came over here to see where we all ranked and watch the follow up vid with you guys.”

“Well then get over here, kiddos!” Patton said and sat down on the ground outside his room. “I can hardly wait!”

Rook sat down beside him quickly while Logan took his other side. Deceit put his head on Patton’s shoulder, clearly thankful he was human rather than Sludge, to watch the screen on his lap. Virgil and Scout hurried over and peered over from behind.

“Ranks or video first?” Patton asked.

“Ranks,” Rook said immediately. “That will be faster than the video.”

Patton tapped at the screen and the scores of everyone in the class appeared, ranked highest to lowest. Silence fell over the group and Virgil felt his wingtips curl excitedly. His scores were the fifth highest in the whole class and everyone on his team got in the top ten.

“Brallada!” Rook exclaimed and threw his arms in the air. “We did it! I did not think… Brallada. I cannot believe it.”

“Me neither,” Virgil whispered, violet eyes wide. Two years ago, he left the Anur System for the first time he could remember and immediately found out that the Plumbers didn’t take him seriously as a trainee. Two years of hard work, physical and mental, followed and now here he was. He was one of the best rising cadets.

A few more excited whoops were thrown around and they looked at some of their classmates’ scores but they soon settled down enough to watch the video that came with the announcement.

_ “Congratulations, new cadets,” _ Magister Coronach said as the video began.  _ “If you’re seeing this video, you’ve passed and you are now a full member of the Plumbers but your hard work isn’t done yet. I’m going to skip the fluff and tell you what’s next. You have a year before you and your team will receive your assignments which means you have a year to decide what path you want to follow. Field agents, medic, teacher, tech support, comms managers, construction workers, leaving the Plumbers all together, this is when you decide. Teams will likely remain the same but members may change to accommodate for these decisions so don’t let the status of your team affect your decision. You are deciding your future.  _

_ “We strongly recommend you return to your homeworlds and remind yourselves of your values, skills, and why you wanted to join the Plumbers in the first place. Most of you have not returned home since coming to the Academy and this may be your first and only chance in a while to do so. Talk to your families, reconnect with your friends, and establish yourself as a Plumber on your homeworld and report back to your instructors for assignment. Note: You can submit your response at any time and you can change it at any point during the year. _

_ “We look forward to seeing your faces within our ranks. Again, congratulations on passing your exams and completing your Academy training. Good luck and stay strong, Cadets. This was Magister Coronach and it’s been an honor overseeing this step in your lives.” _

“That… That was totally a recycled message,” Virgil said, breaking the silence. He heard a couple laughs and some of the tension washed away from his body. “So we’re staying together long term…”

“... but we have a whole year to decide what we want to do,” Patton finished. He frowned. “I’m pretty sure all of us want to be field agents. Think we can just tell them and skip the whole going home thing?”

“They want us to reconnect with society or whatever so I doubt it,” Deceit sighed. “You have bad memories back home too, Patton?”

Patton nodded. “My family kicked me out and I had to live offworld for awhile.”

“Oh. Ouch. My planet’s covered in criminals. There’s a reason I spent so long on Khoros.”

“I’m pretty sure we couldn’t even get into the Anur System if we tried,” Scout pointed out, exchanging a glance with Virgil who nodded in agreement. 

“Perhaps we can stay together?” Logan suggested hesitantly.

“My planet is not open to outsiders but you are welcome to join me on Revonnah,” Rook offered. “My family is… not the most supportive of my decision to join the Plumbers and I fear my father would make me doubt myself if I did not have the support of my friends. A year at home sounds a bit long.”

“What if we didn’t stay a year?”

“Pardon?”

“The purpose of this year is to give us experience as cadets without the restrictions of overseers but it is also to recenter. It would be wise for us to return home, regardless of our ill-feelings at the thought, but it would also be wise to visit other planets to gain the experience of doing so,” Logan pointed out.

“So…?” Virgil questioned, not really catching his point.

“So why don’t we obtain a ship and remain together? Six of us, five homeworlds, twelve Earth months…”

“You’re saying we should all visit each other's homeworlds?” Patton questioned, brightening a bit. He broke into a smile. “I think I’d like that. If all of you are okay with it, I mean.”

“That does sound pretty nice,” Virgil admitted.

Scout nodded and curled his tail. “A lot better than going home with just the two of us.”

“I’m interested,” Deceit agreed.

Rook broke into a smile. “Let us find a ship, shall we?”

* * *

Turns out obtaining a ship is a lot easier than expected.

In the past year, Rook started getting along with Magister Hulka fairly well despite their earlier rockiness. He was still a bit bitter about the teacher’s early negligence but after he proved himself a capable fighter, Hulka was far more open to helping him. Rook got along with many of the other instructors and Magisters on the station. It wasn’t difficult to find one and ask about how he’d go about getting a ship. Rook was ready to go off the station and try buying or renting one from a nearby planet. He wasn’t expecting to just be given a ship.

Well, not given. He had to still pay for it. The Plumbers had a number of ships lying around, mostly fighter jets and prototypes. He was able to buy a rejected- but fully functioning- prototype for barely a handful of taydenite. All he had to do was hand over the tade, sign a couple papers, and the ship was his.

“This is the Proto-TRUK,” Rook announced as his team stepped into the hangar. “For the foreseeable future, it will be our primary mode of transportation.” 

Patton made an impressed noise. “What kind of ship is it?”

“I am not sure,” Rook told him, turning to face the ship. It was decently sized, the main part of the hull long and rectangular. “It is fully functioning as a ship but it was scheduled to be stripped for parts next week. I was told some Galvans were trying to make it a transformer but could not get the Nanoshift to stick.”

Deceit scoffed. “Galvans? Having trouble with a Nanoshift Transformer?”

Rook raised an eyebrow. “You know how to build one?”

Deceit nodded. “I spent a while on Khoros, remember? Engine capital of the universe. I worked with Quil-Tech a bit. If we stop on a planet with the right parts, I can mod this car up pretty nicely.”

Rook smiled. “That is a relief. Do you know how to make an FTL Drive? I was a bit concerned when I learned this ship did not have one but this was too good of a deal to pass up.”

Deceit nodded. “I think I actually have some of the parts. I snagged a few before coming to the station. They’ve just been lying around my dorm the past couple years. I could probably make a few adjustments when we take off.”

“You two are such nerds,” Virgil sighed fondly. “So there’s room for us all on here? And you’re certain it won’t break down in the middle of space?”

Rook nodded. “We should look over it beforehand but yes. It is far from a cruiser so it does not have living spaces, obviously, but there is certainly enough room to be comfortable and sleep if we have to.”

“Nice.”

“Shall we board?” Logan asked and Rook suddenly remembered he was still holding all their possessions. Granted, it was very little, only three bags between the six of them, but Rook still felt guilty for standing here talking. Nodding, he hit a button on his keys and the door dropped down.

“Woah,” Scout said as he stepped inside, running his paw over the metal walls. “Dee’s right about this thing. It could use some improvements but I like it. Pretty good for a first ship, especially if we’re going to be stuck with it for a year.” 

“Indeed,” Rook said, approaching the front of the ship. “There are only two seats right now but we can install more when we have the time and there are benches in the back. We may want to look into getting blankets or pillows to put on the floor if we’re going to sleep here.”

“We can worry about that later!” Patton said, still grinning. “We got a ship! Where are we going to go first?”

“On our list, we have Revonnah, Nagatria, Encephalonus IV, Lenotelma, and Anur Transyl,” Logan pointed out, setting down the bags and taking a seat on one of the benches in the back. “We can map out a route later but if we’re going by distance, I’d say Lenotelma is the best place to start. Is that alright, Patton?”

Patton’s brightness faltered slightly but he nodded. “Sure thing.”

Rook took the driver’s seat and Scout took the passenger seat beside him. “To Lenotelma then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Arc 1.
> 
> The next arc is the Plumber group's road trip and the Null Void group's escape from the Rooters. The first arc was prewritten but arc 2 was not so updates will be slow. Hope you guys stick around!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plan is to update weekly, then take a break until the next arc is over, then resume weekly updates but the next arc isn't over. I've been working on the next arc for four months and I only have two and a half chapters finished. I took a break awhile back, then I didn't have a lot of motivation, then I came out, and now I have to do university applications and start school. Hopefully I'll finish the arc soon but for now I'm just going to post a chapter to not leave you guys hanging.
> 
> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:  
> Oporq (Argit’s Species), Kineceleran (XLR8’s Species), Tetramand (Four Arms’s Species), Petrosapien (Diamondhead’s Species), Polymorph (Goop’s Species), Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstorm’s Species), Vulpimancer (Wildmutt’s Species), Biosorvortian (Lodestar’s Species), Planchakule (Juryrigg’s Species), Osmosian (Kevin’s Species)

He was Green.

Formless, blissful Green.

And he was home.

Home was dark but Home was home. And Home was home to family.

Red, Yellow, Purple, Indigo, Blue… They were all here and for the first time in a long time, Green felt complete. Home wrapped his inky black black arms around himself, sending a wave of comfort washing over everyone within.

A shot of pain spread through Remus’s liquid form but it wasn’t enough to snap him out of his own mind.

The corners of the deep, dark void that made up Home began pulling at Green. Yellow and Purple began buzzing with unease and worry but Red, Blue, and Indigo carried on their business like nothing was wrong.

Remus’s Anti-Gravity Projector hit the ground and his body began boiling with the sudden loss of control.

Yellow stepped between the edge of the darkness and Green and Purple. Suddenly, Yellow wasn’t Yellow anymore. None of the colors were. The blurry streaks were replaced with human forms but Remus couldn’t see them clearly. In his mind, Remus couldn’t even see or feel himself clearly.

Where was Roman? He was still vaguely aware of his physical form. Roman wasn’t anywhere close. He needed his brother to make his mind see clearly. He couldn’t make sense of his vision. All he knew was that something bad was happening to Yellow. He wanted it to stop but there was no sign of any help coming anytime soon.

Remus’s consciousness was split between the real world and his vision. Physically, he couldn’t see much of anything. He just knew he was alone. But in his mind… Part of him still wished he was human. Humans forgot traumatic things. Polymorphs did not. What he saw counted as traumatic enough to forget, he’d say.

The image was unclear but he could see the darkness of the void pulling at Yellow. Yellow fought back and as far as he could tell, Yellow fought well but he couldn’t overpower whatever was dragging him in. It was odd in the most terrifying way. It looked like the dark aura Remus associated with home and safety yet this force was cold and scared him to the figurative bone. It reeked of home but it wasn’t. It was something else entirely.

Time dragged on and Remus had no idea how long he was trapped in the vision, watching Yellow fight against the dragging blanket of black as it reached out for Green and Purple. He couldn’t make any sense of it but that didn’t make it any less real. It was terrifying in every way.

Ever so slowly, his physical awareness began to overpower his mental one and his mind began to free itself from its vision.

It was a massive relief but that didn’t mean it wasn’t painful. Remus had no idea how Polymorphs were even able to register pain but it felt like scorching chains were pulling him down, trying to drag his mind back into the mental prison he was trying to escape. It flooded his body with fire, making his insides scream.

Eventually, the final string snapped and the vision was gone.

Remus let out a noise as his mind suddenly became clear. His body still ached but at least he was out of that horror show.

“Remus? Remus!” a voice called but Remus couldn’t tell where it was coming from. His body had been reduced to a puddle and he wasn’t quite oriented enough to get everything in the right place. After a great deal of effort, he managed to get his eyes straight. His gaze fell on Helen only she was farther than she should’ve been. And there was a green haze between them.

The Anti-Gravity Projector went back online and Remus was able to pull himself together a bit more. He was in a cell, he realized. The same ones as the ones in the lower levels. He couldn’t tell which one it was, just that he was in it and Helen was in the cell across from him.

She looked concerned, waving her tail absentmindedly, but seemed to relax a bit when she saw Remus get his body back together. “Remus! Hey, Roman. He’s up again.”

“Is he okay?” Roman called from the cell next to his. Remus turned and pressed against the wall. He could feel him on the other side. If only the parallel walls weren’t as solid as they were. He couldn’t see through them. Even if he couldn’t reach out, Remus longed to have his brother at his side.

“I think so,” Helen responded. “He’s still kind of bubbling but he’s up again. He’s pressing against your wall. I think he knows you’re there.”

“Good,” Roman said, sounding relieved. “That felt like a bad one and I wasn’t able to help… It went on for so long.”

“Don’t worry, Princey,” Remus croaked, voice coming out staticy through his speakers. He hoped his Anti-Gravity Projector wasn’t damaged when it hit the ground. He needed that to… Well, do everything. He wasn’t anything more than a puddle without it. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine,” Roman responded. Remus flicked his Anti-Gravity Projector, hoping it would get back to normal. It felt kind of funny but he couldn’t tell if that was because he was still a little out of it or if something was actually wrong. Maybe neither, maybe both. He wasn’t sure.

“He’s gotta be fine,” a voice said. It took Remus a moment to realize it was Argit. “He don’t got a choice. He’s the one who got all of you into this mess.”

“Hey!” Pierce snapped. “He did us a favor. Remember, if it wasn’t for me, you’d be dead with the rest of the aliens.”

Dead? Who was- Oh. It all suddenly came rushing back. Pyro, the Vulpimancers, Servantis… “Oh shit. We can’t stay here.”

“You got that right,” Manny agreed, surprising Remus. He hadn’t realized he was here too but he supposed that made sense. Silently, he calculated who exactly was on the level. Helen, Roman, Pierce, and Manny were confirmed. Argit was still in his cage by the door. He assumed Bios, Planch, and the Vulpimancer were still in their cells. He could hear the Vulpimancer making her usual angry noises. That just left Kevin and Alan.

“What do you mean we can’t stay here?” Argit spoke up. He paced in his tiny cage, claws scraping the metal under his feet. “It’s safe here. And warm. And there are no Vulpimancers.”

“One Vulpimancer,” Bios corrected.

“Whatever. What I meant is that here, we don’t get eaten.”

“Getting eaten by a dog is better than life in a cell,” Alan pointed out, grumbling.

“That’s right,” Kevin said in agreement. “It’s only so long before Servantis tries killing us like everyone else that lived down in these cells. Remus, can you find any holes to squeeze through?”

“Um, no?” Remus responded. “The only opening is covered with an energy field. Even if my AGP was fully back online, I wouldn’t be able to get through it.”

“What do you mean back online?” Roman asked. “Did you get hurt during your vision?”

Before Remus had the chance to respond, Argit slapped his hairless tail against the bars of his cage aggressively. “Woah, woah. You want to escape? Servantis took down all six of you Amalgams and Kevin all on his own! You bust out, we’re all dead.”

“Planch want out of his cell!” the Planchakule cried, speaking up for the first time all day. “Cell bad! Outside good! Fix outside! Planch die in cell! Ou, out, out!”

“He’s right,” Bios said. “We aliens, our time is almost up. Servantis will probably keep you Amalgams around for a while but he’ll tire of you eventually. We need to get out.”

“Are you guys crazy?” Argit shouted, panic bleeding into his voice. Remus wanted to reach out to him. He wasn’t really sure why.

“We don’t need the rat or the Vulpimancer to get out,” Pierce pointed out but before anyone could respond, the sharp noise of a door opening and four sets of footsteps echoed through the lower levels.

Everyone went quiet as the Rooters stepped onto the level, casually strolling into the cellblock like it was any other day. Remus and Helen exchanged a glance, mutual unease radiating between them. Helen put her mask down and pulled her tail close. Remus wished he could do the same but he settled for pulling all his goo into one coherent blob.

Servantis, Leander, Phil, and Swift walked down the cell lined hall, radiating an intimidating aura that Remus had never felt from them. It was cold enough to make his fluid form shiver. He didn’t even know he could shiver but somehow, he was. He couldn’t say he liked it.

“Children, children, children,” Servantis began lightly, as if he were scolding them. Maybe he was. Remus had no idea what was going on in that massive, Cerebrocrustacean head of his but he knew there was something wrong with the Rooter. “You’ve done something very, very bad.”

Roman slammed his peranite arms against the force field keeping him in his cell. In his mind, Remus could imagine his brother’s face twisting with anger as he glared at the thin man. “The hell, Servantis! You can’t walk in here and act like- like… You killed them! You killed our friends and you’re acting like we’re kids who got caught stealing cookies. You- You’re willing to just toss away lives and you have the audacity to come in with that stupid, sweet facade like you care about us?”

“It’s not my fault you got attached. Really, it’s your own fault. I told you not to come down here and look where it got you,” Servantis responded, folding his hands behind his back. “You Amalgams… You were going to be the best fighting force in Plumber history and you just had to toss it aside.”

Roman let out a throaty noise, livid, and pounded on the force field again. “When I get out of here, I’m gonna-”

Roman was cut off by the sound of an energy field disappearing and Roman fell out of his cell with a loud clang. Surprised, he didn’t even get to his feet, instead gaping up at Servantis.

“Roman, Roman, Roman. I always thought that fighting spirit of yours was going to make you one of my best Amalgams,” Servantis sighed. The covers on his scarlet exoskull began to rise, exposing his brain and the electricity crackling beneath. “Oh well. It seems you need to be taught a lesson.”

Remus barely had time to spot the flash of red electricity before it made contact. Roman clutched his head, screams bouncing off the metal walls of the massive room.

“Roman!” Remus shouted, his Polymorph form becoming dense with distress. He still felt pretty out of it from the vision but he managed to find enough control of his body to form a fist and pound it against the green energy field keeping him from rushing to his brother’s aid.

Roman’s arms hit the floor loudly and he curled up, trying to protect himself against the pain of Servantis’s blast to no avail. Instinctively, Remus tried to rush to his side. The sight was all too familiar, Roman on the floor and in pain, and everything in him was begging him to just do something to help his brother but he couldn’t. Remus couldn’t recall if anything like this had ever happened before. He didn’t think it had and he could safely say he hated it.

Hearing his brother’s screams was something normal and he hated that he was so used to it. But, normally the screams came from their painful visions. That was something Remus could understand and they could share. This… Roman had never been attacked like this before. It was too new and even if the force field wasn’t holding him back, Remus didn’t know what he could do.

He had to do  _ something _ though. Shouting and pounding against the barrier wasn’t doing anything. Everyone else was doing it too. He knew he could do more than that. He had to do more than that. He was Roman’s brother. Their bond was special. It was his job to help him. That was certain and he felt it so strongly in every part of him.

“Roman!”

And then it was out of him.

Remus wasn’t sure what happened or if it was even him who did it but he could swear yellow crackled in his vision before the whole world  _ warped. _

The entire level seemed to twist in a way that Remus knew just wasn’t possible but it was happening right before his eyes. For a moment, he wondered if he was still trapped in a vision- it certainly felt like it- but he could feel the floor rippling under the bulk of his body. Metal walls tore apart, exposing wires, and the force fields shut down. Remus didn’t hear it nor could he see it, being so unsteady and all with everything moving, but somehow he just knew.

His body moved on its own and he slid across the metal floor and barreled into Roman. Surprisingly, he didn’t feel any of Servantis’s blast. The Cerebrocrustacean Amalgam must’ve been knocked away when… when… when whatever it was rippled through the Null Void. Remus didn’t focus on it though. In the unstable world, his mind was solely on his brother. He let his form deflate and he curled around Roman’s peranite form protectively. He wasn’t sure what was quaking reality but they just had to wait it out.

It felt... odd. But not foreign. Like he’d experienced reality playing with itself like this before. Remus couldn’t pinpoint the feeling through and in all honesty, he was too petrified to really dwell on it right now. The world around him was breaking itself, throwing everything and everyone on the floor around and twisting the fabrics of space around them.

It felt like eons before everything settled down. It could have been, Remus didn’t know. He didn’t want to know. Remus hadn’t realized it but he’d tuned out everything around him and it was starting to come back. Beneath him, he could hear Roman breathing heavily and he let himself relax. His brother was okay.

But he couldn’t relax forever. Now that he could see straight, he could survey the damage. All the cells were bust open, even Argit’s metal cage, and aliens and Amalgams alike were thrown everywhere. Remus couldn’t tell if anyone was hurt. He felt fine but he was a Polymorph. They couldn’t exactly get hurt. If the damage to the level’s infrastructure implied anything, everyone had to at least be a bit banged up.

An ear-splitting bellow sliced through the air and suddenly the Vulpimancer was tearing across the floor. She was lying by the door near Argit’s cage but she made no attempt to eat the little Oporq. Instead, she let out a savage, slobbery howl and lunged at the Rooters.

Remus looked around quickly, trying to locate everyone as fast as he could. Argit, Kevin, Helen, and Alan were behind him, almost all the way in the stairwell. Pierce, Manny, and Planch were lying between Remus and the Rooters on the other side of the room. And Bios… Where was Bios?

The sound of metal tearing filled the room as Vulpi threw herself at Phil, scratching furiously. For a moment, Remus was terrified reality was going to bend again but then he saw the tall Biosorvortian stepping forward.

“Run!” Bios called, using their magnetic powers to tear down the walls and put a barrier between everyone behind them and the Rooters. “Get out of here! This may be your only chance!”

“What about you?” Helen cried, getting to her feet. She stumbled a bit but managed to regain her balance by lashing her tail behind her. 

Bios cast her a glance over their shoulder. “I’m old, even for a Biosorvortian. You kids have a lot more to lose than I do. Vulpi and I will hold them off as long as we can. Just take a ship and get out of here!”

“Bios!” Planch shouted, jumping on Manny’s chest.

Bios’s mouth curled ever so slightly, smiling fondly. “Take care of them for me.”

Planch looked torn before turning to the kids behind him. “You heard them! Out! Out, out, out!”

Remus still wasn’t feeling a hundred percent between the recent vision and being thrown across the room but his body responded to the shouting. He bubbled a bit, trying to get up but it didn’t react quite like he wished it would. Roman got up, careful not to send Remus splattering as he slid off his crystal-like chest, and softly took Remus’s Anti-Gravity Projector in one hand. Remus let Roman guide him, pulling him toward the door. “Come on, everyone. We don’t have all day.”

The Amalgams looked conflicted, glancing back at Bios as he closed up the barrier between him and the kids. Argit, however, didn’t hesitate to clamber up onto Roman’s shoulder. “You heard the man! Let’s see some running!”

Kevin got to the front of the group and waved them after him. The other Amalgams exchanged a glance before hurrying after him. Roman put a hand on Argit to keep him flying off his shoulder and readjusted his grip on Remus’s Anti-Gravity Projector before breaking into a run.

Remus didn’t particularly like being dragged. Wherever his projector went, his body was forced to follow and his friends liked taking advantage of this unfortunate characteristic of the Polymorph but right now Remus had to say he was grateful. Like the others, he was sure that if he was feeling himself he’d have a hard time leaving Bios behind.

They stopped being hesitant once they reached the upper levels and the shock wore off. Freedom was within their grasp and they just had to run for it. 

Remus was a bit surprised Kevin knew the way to the hangar but he supposed it made sense. Just because Servantis kept the twins collared didn’t mean he hadn’t let Kevin wander the base. By the time they rounded into the hangar, Remus was a bit more composed than before and he managed to pull all two hundred pounds of his slime in tight and cling to Roman’s bulky form. Roman didn’t seem to mind and if Argit did, he didn’t comment on it.

Kevin barely slowed down when the group skidded into the hangar. The others, Roman included, paused in surprise at the sight of all the javelins lined up in the hangar but Kevin wasted no time making a beeline for the nearest one. He used his powers to turn his arms to metal before sharpening them into a tool to pry the doors open. Remus didn’t know how these things worked but he hoped Kevin could fly one without keys. Or at all. Despite all their training these past couple years, Remus knew none of them had actually been trained to fly a jet of any kind.

“Maybe we should think about this,” Pierce suggested, pausing as the Amalgams reached the door.

“No time! Gotta move fast!” Helen responded, smacking her brother with her tail to prod him into the ship. He stumbled forward and Helen grabbed his arm to drag him in. 

Everyone piled on board as fast as possible and Kevin had the engines going the moment Manny slammed the door shut. The javelin began tearing through the hangar before everyone settled down. The sudden movement nearly sent Roman toppling and Remus ended up slipping off his back and splattering against one of the back windows.

“Kevin!” Roman shouted as he dropped Remus’s Anti-Gravity Projector, arms flailing as he tried to balance.

“What?” Kevin grunted as the javelin began to pull out of the hangar.

“Bah!” Planch said loudly and jumped onto Kevin’s lap. “Let Planch drive! Drive, drive, drive!”

“Do we really want that guy driving?” Argit cried, jumping off Roman’s shoulder to cower in Manny’s arms.

The Tetramand dropped him unsympathetically. “At least he knows how to drive one of these things!”

“I don’t care who’s driving,” Alan said. “Let’s just go!”

“Go, go, go!” Planch cheered and the engines roared. Just as Remus began to pull himself together again, the ship shot forward and he was plastered the window once more. At least he got a good view.

The roll out of the hangar was a bit rocky but the ship pulled out within a few seconds and metal walls turned to endless red void. Remus could practically feel the tension fade from his goopy form as more and more red filled his vision and the metal got smaller and smaller. They were really leaving the base.

A hand ran through his goo and Remus realized Roman was trying to get his form back together. It took a moment for Remus to locate his Anti-Gravity Projector but he found it soon enough and managed to mold himself back into something more humanoid for the first time in hours. Almost immediately, he felt a bit better. More like himself.

“Are you okay?” Roman asked silently, taking a seat next to him. The other Amalgams were already claiming the seats but Roman seemed perfectly content just sitting with his brother.

Remus tried his best to smile but settled for just leaning against Roman’s shoulder. “I don’t know. But I think I will be.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry these updates have been coming out so slow. I actually finished this one awhile ago but I was under the impression I'd write the next few chapters so I waited to upload this one. Life's been busy and I haven't had the chance to write much.
> 
> For any of you Ben 10 fans, go check out my FFN account! Last year I started a Ben 10 writing challenge for Spooktober and never finished but it is now getting updates again. If you're interested, go check it out! Most of that story takes place on Anur Transyl so a lot of portions from that story influenced this one.
> 
> In this chapter, Patton references an episode from the original series called Big Fat Alien Wedding.
> 
> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:   
> Necrofriggian (Big Chill’s Species), Loboan (Blitzwolfer’s Species), Revonnahgander (Rook’s Species), Nagasapien (Ssserpent’s Species), Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstorm’s Species), Lenopan (Cousin Lucy’s Species)

Living on a ship was… less than pleasant.

Oh, Scout loved it. He could look right out the window, see the void of space, and the view was always different. He was with his friends. He’d set paw on dozens of planets and moons whenever the ship landed. But, he was an active creature by nature and the lack of space could be frustrating at times. Patton was pretty good at keeping him calm though. 

At the moment, Patton, shifted into his human form, was sitting on one of the benches in the back of the ship with Scout sprawled over his lap. The Lenopan was grinning like he was having the time of his life as he scratched the Loboan’s ears. Scout still got confused, judgmental looks from Rook whenever he let Patton pet him and he had to admit that it was a bit embarrassing but by Luna Lobo, it felt so good. Not to mention it eased his need to pace.

Scout wagged his tail idly as he lazily watched Rook and Logan navigate the ship’s controls. A screen blinked, informing him the group was entering the right sector but he didn’t think too much of it. He was too relaxed right now to care. It didn’t seem the others felt the same way though.

“Patton,” Virgil spoke up, “can I ask you something? I’ve been curious.”

“Sure thing kiddo! Fire away,” Patton said with a smile. “What is it?”

“I just… You never talk about your homeworld,” Virgil said. Scout felt Patton stiffen for a split second before resuming his scratching. It was probably nothing but… it felt important. Scout didn’t speak up, trusting his brother to ask the questions to get the answers he needed, but he didn’t let it go. He felt it, he was certain of that, and it meant something. “It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it but…”

“Indeed,” Logan spoke up from the passenger seat. He spun the chair around, turning to face the rest of the aliens behind him. “You were hesitant to come here at all. If there’s anything we should know about Lenotelma, it’s better we hear it now.”

“Yeah…” Patton said, rubbing the back of his neck with his freehand. His scratches got rougher and his form slipped for a few seconds, fingers turning to mud, but Scout didn’t comment on it. He let out a concerned whine and lifted his head to butt Patton softly. Patton smiled, comforted by the wordless affection, and continued. “It’s not really anything bad. I just don’t get along with my family anymore.”

“Any reason why?” Scout asked. He wanted to sit up, sensing the atmosphere was growing more serious, but he didn’t have the heart to pull away from the Lenopan. Call it his canine instincts but he could feel how much Patton needed his furry friend’s presence and comforting weight on his lap.

Patton ran his fingers through Scout’s fur. “You know how Lenopans and Plumbers don’t get along, right? Lenopans are… Well, obviously we’re a sentient species but we’ve evolved from sludge which makes a lot of our emotions pretty unstable so we can get pretty violent.”

Scout flicked his ear and shared a doubtful look with his brother. Patton didn’t have a violent bone in his body. Well, he didn’t have any bones but he wasn’t a violent man by nature. Out of the six, Patton was the least inclined to fight. Oh sure, he could hold his own against the best of them and he worked as hard as the rest but he didn’t see the allure of combat like many of the others did. Scout never would’ve guessed Patton’s species were naturally aggressive.

“Do you experience…” Logan trailed off.

Patton shrugged. “It’s like… instinct? I have pretty good control over it though. Anyway, a lot of offworld Lenopans are criminals and they tangled with the Plumbers more than a handful of times, especially on Earth. We made peace but we don’t really get along.”

“Earth?” Rook echoed, a silent question hovering in the air. Everyone knew Patton’s favor for a human form and his love of Earth things. Scout had a feeling they were going to get an explanation.

Patton nodded. “Long story short, my cousin married a human from a Plumber family. The wedding was on Earth and our side of the family planned on sabotaging the wedding.”

“Damn,” Dee spoke up, blinking. His tongue flickered. “That’s… uh, not good.”

Scout gave the Nagasapien a dull look to silence him but he appreciated the effort to be sympathetic. Scout didn’t really have an interest in courtships himself but he knew Deceit had even less of an interest than he did. At least Deceit was paying attention so Scout supposed he deserved a few points for that.

Patton nodded, barely noticing Deceit’s awkward contribution. “Yeah. All the Manns got into a fight with the Tennysons. My human cousins Ben and Gwen, my sister Lucy, and I got pulled away from the fight but… We ended up fighting for the Tennysons. Everything turned out fine- Camille and Joel got married and everyone ended up getting along- but my parents weren’t exactly happy I turned against our family.”

“Is your sister alright?”

“Why did you turn against your species?”

Virgil and Logan glanced at each other, having spoken at the same time.

Patton smiled stiffly. “Lucy’s fine. I convinced her to stay out of the fight so technically she didn’t do anything wrong. And why I fought with the Plumbers… I’m not really sure. I mean, you know I’m not really a fighter but I just… Geez, this is so hard to explain. It was a split second decision. I guess I just recognized the Manns as the problem in the situation? Camille and Joel did nothing wrong and I guess I’d gotten so fed up with my species… everything.”

“Understandable,” Deceit said, a faint hiss rolling of his tongue. Deceit’s relationship with his species and homeworld, Scout knew it wasn’t good. Probably even worse than Patton’s. Scratch that. It was definitely worse. But now was about Patton and the Lenopans, not Deceit. He’d have to ask later.

“So the Tennysons gave you a recommendation after that?” Scout asked.

Patton shook his head, frowning ever so slightly. “Not quite. I went back to Lenotelma for a bit. It wasn’t… Well, it wasn’t awful. But, um, yeah. I didn’t want to stay. I kept in contact with Ben, Gwen, and our Grandpa Max-”

“Max Tennyson?” Rook interrupted, orange eyes lighting up with interest. “Magister Tennyson is your grandfather?”

Patton smiled. “Yeah… Not by blood obviously but he’s great. He’s the one who suggested I apply for the Plumber Academy in the first place. And probably the reason I got in.”

Scout flicked his tail absently. He’d spent nearly all waking hours with Patton for the past couple years and the Lenopan had never mentioned his human family, not even when the group learned about notable Magisters and the hero of ea- Wait. 

Scout sat up, earning a few confused looks but he didn’t care. “Your cousin Ben… He’s Ben 10, isn’t he?”

Patton nodded. Virgil nearly fell out of his seat. “Wait, what? Ben 10 is your cousin?”

Patton nodded again, looking confused again. “Haven’t I mentioned it?”

The other five Plumbers shook their heads with wide eyed gazes never leaving their teammate. Patton grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. Logan sighed and put a claw to his face. “No matter. We’re nearing Lenotelma. Anything we should know about the planet?”

“Oh it’s great!” Patton chirped cheerfully. “There’s swamp everywhere!”

Scout shivered and exchanged a glance with Rook. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience. Hopefully it’d do Patton some good at least.

* * *

Lenotelma was… Virgil didn’t know how to describe it. What to call it. It just wasn’t… It wasn’t Anur Transyl? He didn’t know what he was expecting but he supposed he’d been expecting something familiar. He was used to jagged stone streets, impossibly dark clouds, and multitudes of citizens going about their day. There were cracks in the ground, ominous light leaking from the planet’s core, and mazes of web reaching into the sky overhead. And then there was Luna Lobo. The ever present Luna Lobo. Anur Transyl wasn’t his home, not really, but it was all he knew. And this… This wasn’t...

He was sure Patton felt about Lenotelma the same way that he’d feel about Kylmyys. Virgil was built to live on Kylmyys and if he harbored the same feelings about Kylmyys as he did Anur Transyl or Luna Lobo, he was sure he’d never leave. An alien’s homeplanet was… Well, their homeplanet. Virgil didn’t know how to use words to encapsulate just how much they belonged there.

Lenotelma was covered in a dark, thick sludge akin to Patton’s Sludgepuppy form. Virgil had only ever seen brown mud but this sludge was purple, though it didn’t seem toxic in any way. It stretched across the land, turning it into a swampland, but it didn’t look out of place. Tree-like pillars stretched out of the muck, reaching toward the sky like broken fingers. They looked to be made of the same sludge, only hardened. They reminded Virgil of stalagmites, though he’d never seen them in person. Trees, stalagmites, whatever they were, he just found them fascinating. 

Rook landed the Protoship in a forest of these strange trees. The engines sent up the sludge below, temporarily created a clean place to land before slipping back and drowning the bottom of the ship in its mass. Rook’s face was tight with borderline disgust, clearly unhappy about getting his ship dirty, which got a laugh out of Dee. Rook ignored him and glanced at Patton. “Where are we? Should we move closer?”

Patton shook his head. “These are the outskirts. We’re a bit far from the city but any closer and we might get chased off.”

The word city caught Virgil’s attention. “City? So you don’t just live…”

Virgil gestured vaguely out the window. Patton laughed with genuine amusement. “Of course not! Well, I did for a bit. Actually… Well, it’s complicated. But no, we don’t live in the swamps. Some do for short periods of time but they usually stick closer to the city. This is kind of… um… What would you call it? Wilderness? Yeah, wilderness. I know Sludges kind of had a bad rep as being half evolved but we’re civilized.” 

Virgil’s wingtips burned with cold embarrassment. “Oh, um, sorry. I wasn’t trying to imply that…”

Patton just laughed in the way he always did and smiled brightly. “I know. Oh, you’ll love it! Well, maybe not Scout or Rook… I don’t know how fur reacts to muck… But I’m sure the rest of you will like it! It’s so pretty!”

Dee made a snake-like purr of fondness and slithered down toward the back of the ship. “You can tell us about it on the way. If we’re as far as you said, we should get walking if we’re going to get to the city by… Does Lenotelma even have night?”

Patton nodded and followed after Dee, using his human hands to do what the Nagasapien and open the ship’s hatch. “We’re really far from the sun though? We have to be or we’ll dry out.”

“The Matope System has three suns,” Rook reminded as he tapped at the Protoship’s controls before turning away and following the others to the hatch. “Almost all the planets are covered in sludge but the inner planets are dried out into deserts while the outer planets can afford to be wetter.”

“Oh I remember reading about that,” Scout spoke up. “I remember how annoying it was to calculate the orbits of the outer planets and all the stuff with the seasons. Seemed pretty useless when we were in class but I guess it’s coming in handy.”

“Seasons are weird. Glad we don’t have them back home,” Virgil commented as the hatch opened. And he immediately wanted to close it. Or maybe not. He wasn’t sure.

Conversation was forgotten as a rank odor slammed into them. Deceit and Rook physically recoiled while Scout was practically floored. Logan and Virgil, not having particularly sensitive senses, didn’t react nearly as strongly but Virgil’s face still wrinkled and Logan seemed displeased. Patton, on the other hand, seemed beyond thrilled to be slammed with the wave of stink.

Patton melted out of his human form and practically dived into the sludge below. Virgil felt a flash of panic in his chest as Patton disappeared into the pool like a liquid only for him to resurface a heartbeat later with a happy whoop. “By Matope’s suns! I missed this!”

Momentarily distracted, a fond smile slipped onto Virgil’s face. He’d always been under the impression Patton hated his homeworld. He shifted into human form, he never spoke of Lenopan culture, his verbal tics contained nothing uniquely Lenopan… Virgil was sure he’d learn why soon enough but for now he was happy seeing Patton happy.

Virgil glanced back at the aliens behind him and saw that Dee, Rook, and Scout had retrieved filter masks. Rook held up a pair to Logan and Virgil in offering but the two shook their heads. The smell was bad but not horrible, at least for them. Virgil wasn’t sure what Cerebrocrustacean noses were sensitive to but he knew his own nose was designed to find colony members and food in space, not take in his surroundings on a planet. The scent was becoming more and more tolerable. He still had to step into it though.

The muck was cool to the touch yet oddly warm at the same time. Being a Nectrofriggian, Virgil knew he couldn’t feel the temperature like the others. He could mostly just feel the thick texture and damp quality to it. He pulled his wings in tight, making sure to hold them above the sludge. He didn’t want them dragging. That’d be a pain to clean. He was sure they’d all be caked with mud by the end of this trip but for now he was still holding onto hope.

Everyone, of course, wore Plumber issued armor. Deceit, Patton, and Virgil had to wear armor uniquely designed for their species’ forms and abilities while Scout and Logan wore the traditional white armor and Rook wore Proto-Tech armor. With the exception of Patton and Rook, everyone’s feet were exposed. It had a purpose but right now it seemed like a real big design flaw. Virgil sensed a long walk ahead of them. This wasn’t going to be fun.

Dee eyed the ground with caution as he slithered out of the hull and into the swamp. His tongue flickered with displeasure but he was a stoic snake and a serious Plumber and no self-respecting Plumber would let some icky terrain stop him. Logan, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly as tall as the Nagasapien and sank the moment he stepped off the ship, getting practically submerged in the stuff. Taking pity on him, Scout neatly plucked him out of the sludge with ease and placed him on his back.

“Thank you,” Logan said before turning his gaze on the horizon. “Now shall we?”

* * *

Lenotelma was everything Patton remembered and more.

The swamps were a Sludgepuppy's natural habitat. Patton couldn’t believe he forgot how easily he could travel through the mud in his Sludge form. Lenopans were birthed from the planet and nothing could change that. He was one with the swamp. Liquid form merging into its silt, Patton shot through the swamps like a fish through water. He left his friends behind but he hardly noticed. He was just so happy. He was home, reconnected with everything that defined his planet.

His body was just an extension of his home and they were together again. It just felt… right. Like he was whole again. No longer something small and alone, no longer galaxies away from his home, no longer disconnected from everything that made him what he was. He was part of something larger. He could feel so much. Every inch of the swamp, every dried crag jutting out of the pool, every Lenopan in the muck, Patton could feel all of it. He hadn’t felt like this in so long. Years had passed since he sent foot on his homeworld and now he remembered exactly what he was missing.

Rushing through the swamp, Patton’s form hurried in the direction of the city. There was a Sludge he needed to see. He could feel her lingering at the edge of the city, attention pricked. She could feel him too, probably even better than he could feel her. Lenopans were sensitive creatures. The sludge was their domain. It connected them but Patton was rejoining that link for the first time in years. He was having a hard time adjusting to being part of that again but his sister wasn’t hindered by that same problem.

“Patton!”

“Lucy!”

They met halfway. Or maybe they didn’t, Patton was never good at judging distance. Point was his sister knew he was here and rushed to see him. Patton knew he shouldn’t be surprised but he was. His body emerged from the mud, his true form appearing in all its dripping glory, as Lucy pulled him into a tight hug. Their bodies pressed against each other, sludge rubbing off, but it was clear who was who. They just knew. This was his  _ sister _ . He hadn’t seen her in so long and he could hardly believe that his senses were telling him she was right next to him.

Lucy shifted into her human form and Patton felt something inside him dip in disappointment. He hated his Lenopan body but for some reason, he didn’t today. He was happy. He had so many emotions that the surface of his skin was bubbling like boiling water. He was  _ happy _ . His wide mouth just couldn’t drop its dopey grin. He was just so  _ happy _ . He was with his family again.

Lucy smiled up at him in that childish manner that was somehow just so real. She was a little sister looking up at her big brother whom she’d missed. Happy tears brimmed her round eyes as she offered her hands. Patton took them in a heartbeat, almost subconsciously. His mind was blank, solely focused on taking in the sight of her, but her touch ground him. Her solid hands on his liquid ones, they made everything real. 

“Patton,” a voice said from behind him. With a jerk, Patton looked over his shoulder to see Scout, Virgil, Rook, Deceit, and Logan approaching. It was Logan who’d spoken. Using his powers, he picked himself off Scout’s back and dropped down into the sludge. His crabby legs were far too short for him to really move properly but he walked to Patton’s side with ease and put a claw on his side.

Patton looked back to Lucy and with a fresh mind, he’d realized how much she’d changed. She’d grown. Her natural form, of course, had changed but her human form had grown with her. That wasn’t what was most jarring though. The high of reunion had worn off and Patton could feel her spirit through the sludge. In his absence, she’d grown as an individual in a way Patton couldn’t express with words. But, he did know one thing: Lucy wasn’t his baby sister anymore and he wasn’t her ever-present big brother. 

Patton let his body return to his human form and the two smiled at each other with solid faces. His senses were still as sensitive as ever but he just felt different. This was who he was and now he was looking at who Lucy was. Since that day on Earth, they’d changed. She’d grown up without him and she’d become someone worthy of his pride. And he’d become someone worthy of hers. They’d become new people and they’d done so apart.

Still, what they had could never be broken.

“I missed you,” he whispered, eyes watering behind his glasses.

“I missed you too,” she responded quietly, pulling a hand away to wipe her eyes. Patton took the chance to do the same with his newly freed hand, jostling his glasses with the back of his wrist.

He cleared his throat and looked to his friends, his old smile returning to him. “Sorry about that. I had a moment.”

“Understandable, especially considering you just explained your species’ primeval nature and your relationship with emotions. Your avidity at contact with your homeworld and ardor at the sight of your sibling is to be expected,” Logan responded, retracting his claw now that Patton was clearly back to himself.

“You lost yourself for a minute there, pal,” Scout said in a light but slightly concerned tone. “You good?”

“Yeah,” Patton said with a nod. And he meant it. He looked at Logan and gestured vaguely. “Like Logan said, emotional disconnect stuff happened for a sec there. Uh, anyway, this is my sister Lucy!”

“Nice to meet you Ms. Mann,” Rook said, dipping his head respectfully. “We’ve heard good things about you.”

“Formal much?” Deceit said with a roll of his eyes. He boxed Rook in the shoulder softly and flicked his forked tongue at Lucy. “Sup?”

Lucy blinked at the two for a minute before looking back to her brother. “So these are your friends?”

“Yeah! That’s Rook, he’s from Revonnah, great guy but kinda weird sometimes; that right there is Dee, also a great guy but very scary sometimes; this is Virgil, he’s my son-”

“What?”

“-and that’s Scout, his brother and therefore also my son-”

“I never agreed to that.”

“-and he’s also my dog friend-”

“What?”

“These introductions are becoming quite strange,” Logan interrupted. He offered a claw to Lucy. “I believe the two of you are familiar with Earth greetings. This is a handshake. My name is Logan.”

Lucy accepted his handshake. “It’s so nice to meet you nice to meet you all! I hope Patton hasn’t been causing any problems.”

“Patton is the least likely of the group to cause problems,” Rook said matter-of-factly.

Deceit shouldered him. “She knows that, that’s not what she meant. That’s just something people say. But he’s right, Lucy. Your brother’s great.”

Lucy smiled and folded her hands, rocking on her feet slightly. “I’m glad to hear that. I was so worried about him becoming a Plumber. You know Sludgepuppies don’t have a very good relationship with Plumbers and cadets aren’t really allowed to call much.”

“None of our species have a very good thing going with the Plumbers,” Dee told her. “That’s why we all got lumped together. Gave us something to bond over.”

“I’d like to point out that Sludges and Nagas are notoriously known as criminals throughout the known universe,” Logan stated. “Your situation is far worse than-”

“Our system literally does not let any foreigners inside and hate Plumbers,” Scout pointed out.

“Nevermind, I stand corrected. Point is-”

“Just stop, Logan. I really don’t think this is a necessary conversation,” Virgil sighed, putting his face in the palm of one hand. “I don’t think you’re even going anywhere with this.”

Lucy burst into giggles and elbowed her brothers. “Are they always like this?”

Patton’s expression softened as he fondly smiled at the group. “Yeah. Yeah, they are. And I wouldn’t change it for the universe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit short but I don’t think it’s necessary to drag out wandering around on Lenotelma. Patton’s not exactly welcome in the cities so it would mostly just be Patton and Lucy running around in the mud.
> 
> There isn't actually much info about Lenopan society known. Their homeplanet doesn't even have a canon name. Pretty much everything in this story was inspired by something else or made up by me. Lenopan aggression was inspired by a fic I read a long time ago. I believe it was Who's Scared Now by Miss Nihilist. The name Lenotelma comes from some Latin or Greek root words. The aesthetic of the planet was loosely based on how I imagine a planet in the book series Pendragon.
> 
> This arc of the story does a bit of world building for the Ben 10 universe but we only get glimpses of most planets. I don't think we'll see much more of Lenotelma in this fic but hopefully I'll expand on it in the future.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alien Species Mentioned in this Chapter:  
> Oporq (Argit’s Species), Kineceleran (XLR8’s Species), Tetramand (Four Arms’s Species), Petrosapien (Diamondhead’s Species), Polymorph (Goop’s Species), Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstorm’s Species), Vulpimancer (Wildmutt’s Species), Planchakule (Juryrigg’s Species), Osmosian (Kevin’s Species), Pyronite (Heatblast’s species)
> 
> Unrelated Note: As previously stated, Argit’s species name was made up for this fic. The species name is never confirmed in canon but while writing this chapter, I learned that the Omnitrix scanned Pierce’s half DNA, which we later learned came from Argit, and called it Snorecupine. It is not the species name but it’s awesome and I just wanted to share.

The crash was rougher than it should be. Not for the first time, Roman found himself grateful he had a Peterosapien’s durable body. He slapped the thought away quickly, not wanting that old, familiar guilt to pile up on top of all his other worries. Around him, his friends were trying to brace themselves as the ship jarred their bones and tore through the rock below. Remus splattered against the window, anti-gravity projector unable to keep his form together; Helen held onto her brother, lashing her tail for balance; Kevin’s body turned to metal and he grabbed Planch, the smaller alien squealing as he tried to run to safety that wasn’t there- The scene was pretty scary in Roman’s mind but he knew they were escaping something much worse than a little crash.

“Is everyone okay?” Alan called out once the ship rocked for the final time. Roman desperately hoped they were on solid ground, not hanging off the edge of some ravine or something like that. Only one of them could fly and Remus’s anti-gravity projector didn’t have the strength to carry anyone other than himself.

“I think so,” Pierce responded, rubbing his head.

Helen yelped. “One of your quills is in my tail.”

“Oh sorry. I’ll get it o- Oh. This isn’t mine.”

Helen’s face twisted with disgust. “You mean it’s Argit’s?”

“Heh, sorry about that,” Argit said, rubbing the back of his head with one paw. “I may have freaked out a little. On the plus side, I don’t think that’s one of the poisoned ones.”

“Great,” Helen deadpanned as Pierce got to work on pulling said quill out.

Roman smiled, somewhat soothed by the banter. They hadn’t been fleeing for long. Long enough to escape the Rooters but not long enough for Roman’s racing heart to settle. Actually, had they escaped the Rooters? He didn’t know what made them crash. Just that something hit them. Oh shit, had Agent Swift caught up with them?

“We should get moving,” Remus said, floating around to gather up all the mass that he’d lost in the crash. “We probably shouldn’t stay in one place too long.”

“We shouldn’t leave the ship though,” Manny pointed out. “We’ve got shelter, there’s probably some food and water on here, and-”

Manny was interrupted by a savage howl from outside and the sounds of claws and teeth on metal.

“Okay, nevermind. Remus is right, we need to move.”

“With those things out there?” Argit questioned, grabbing both his ears in his fists and pulling them down like a comfort toy. 

“We don’t even know what they are,” Helen said, slapping him upside the head with her tail.

“All the more reason to stay inside here where it’s safe!”

There was another loud cry and suddenly there was something crashing through the ship’s windshield.

“Vulpimancer!” Kevin yelled. He held up an arm to shield his face from the glass raining down on him. “Run!”

“Grab, grab, grab!” Planch cried. “Run, run, run!”

“Be quiet,” Pierce hissed at him but seemed to understand what the little alien was trying to tell them to do. Picking up the Planchakule, Pierce ran toward the ship’s cargo hold.

“Pierce!” Helen called and ran after her brother.

“They have the right idea,” Kevin said. “Remus, try to hold this thing off so we can grab some stuff. We’ll bust out from the cargo bay and meet up with you.”

“Got it!” Remus responded. Roman opened his mouth to protest but Remus’s goopy form was already swelling up to attack. Before Roman could speak, he sent balls of acid flying at the cat-like canine. The vulpimancer wailed in anger and pain as the gunk got caught in the sensors on its neck.

“Good move!” Roman told him, placated, and ran off to join the others in the ship’s cargo bay. This wasn’t a travel ship and there wasn’t anyone to trade with in the Null Void so there wasn’t much cargo but hopefully there was at least something they could use to survive here.

Roman could hear Remus fighting the vulpimancer as he ran the other way. When he reached the storage, his friends were already in the midst of grabbing what they could. Outside, he could hear more vulpimancers trying to get in. Trusting his friends to gather what they needed, Roman took it upon himself to focus on their escape. Honing his hands into blades, he began slashing at one of the walls. He scored long, deep cuts into it in a cross formation until Kevin gave the word to go.

“We can’t waste time here. Manny?”

“Oh it,” Manny replied. Roman stepped aside and the Tetramand charged at the weakened wall. He broke through it easily, exposing everyone to the harsh atmosphere of the Null Void. Hurrying out as fast as they could, the group stepped onto the dry, crumbly terrain of the floating islands only to come face to face with even more Vulpimancers. 

“Pillar, pillar, pillar!” Planch screamed and Roman knew what to do instantly. Slamming his hands flat onto the ground, he built a platform of peranite beneath the group’s feet and pushed everyone into the air as fast as he could. He didn’t have a lot of practice building these kinds of structures and his body trembled under the strain but the hungry wails of the vulpimancers was enough to keep him pushing them higher, and higher until he ran out of steam.

The group fell silent, staring down at the pack they narrowly avoided. Some of the beasts tried to climb the pillar only to find it was too smooth to get a grip on and their claws weren’t strong enough to dig into the material. In another situation, Roman would’ve laughed at the sight of them but he was too tired from using his powers to see the humor in it and too scared to be thinking about that right now.

“So that was terrifying,” Pierce said nonchalantly, crouching at the edge of the platform. He extended one arm downward and lazily shot a spike at one of the vulpimancers. The creature groaned and snapped it’s teeth at it.

Helen sat down beside him. “They’ll probably get bored soon. Hopefully they won’t eat our ship before then.”

“A bit too late for that,” a voice said and Roman looked down to see Remus spiraling up the pillar. Pulling his form back together, he draped his arms over Roman’s shoulders and lazily flopped the rest of his weight onto his back. It was a bit annoying but his brother’s return was immensely comforting. Roman hadn’t even realized how worried he’d been for him.

“That’s just great,” Kevin sighed, glancing down at the ship. “So we’re stuck on this island with those things.”

“At least we can eat them,” Pierce said, getting a disgusted reaction from Argit and his sister.

“Roman can make bridges to the other islands and Planch might be able to mess with Remus’s AGP enough to carry us in its field,” Alan suggested.

Remus pawed his projector. If he was human, Roman was sure he’d be frowning. “I don’t like people messing with my AGP but if we have to…”

“No one’s messing with your wires,” Roman promised. “I’m not that good at building but I think I can manage some bridges once in a while.”

“I guess that’s better than n-” A loud shriek cut through the air, interrupting Manny before he could finish his thought. “Seriously? Again?”

“Look out!” Pierce called, pointing to the blood red sky. “Null Guardians!”

Roman looked up to see the long, tentacled greyish creatures flying towards them. Massive mouths agape and wailing paired with their beating wings, they were impossibly loud. Even the vulpimancers below seemed bothered by the noise. Roman didn’t know how they didn’t hear them earlier.

“They’re so cute!” Remus shrieked in excitement. Argit and Planch, the only two unused to Remus’s antics, looked at him as if he’d grown two heads before turning their attention back to the screaming beasts. “I want one!”

“What’s the plan?” Pierce asked, jumping to his feet. The quills on his arms stiffened, ready to throw when needed. Argit eyed his stance before mimicking it crudely. His ears twitched.

“Run!” Kevin responded. Without an ounce of hesitation, he leaped off the pillar, running his hand along it and absorbing its properties as he fell. The vulpimancers howled, maws salivating, as he rushed toward them only to be knocked out cold when his peranite feet landed squarely on their heads. The others exchanged a glance, wondering if Kevin made the right choice, before a Null Guardian made the decision for them.

The nearest beast lunged, gnashing its teeth. Manny boxed it in the face before leaping off the pillar. “I’m out.”

“I think they have the right idea,” Argit agreed, pulling on his ears in fear again.

“Down, down, down!” Planch chanted. Roman grabbed him and cradled him in his arms protectively before jumping down with the rest of his friends close behind. Pushing off the peranite column, he landed a few yards away from the base and slammed into a vulpimancer roughly. The animal screamed and tried to retaliate but Remus appeared a moment later and bowled into it. Planch jabbed a finger forward. “In, in, in!”

Roman wasn’t completely sure what Planch meant by that but Remus seemed to and Roman didn’t want to watch his brother’s goo do… Oh he was already doing it. Okay, time to look away. That was disgusting. Were those things gills? He thought they were just wrinkly patches of- Okay, looking away for real now.

Planch clambered out of Roman’s arms and perched on his head, tail waving wildly. “Go, go, go!”

“I’m going!” Roman grumbled and ran back to regroup with his friends. Helen was zipping around, trying to keep the vulpimancers back but they just kept prowling forward.

“Just go find us somewhere to hide,” Pierce instructed, stepping forward to cover for her.

“I can’t just leave you!” Helen protested.

“Go!”

Roman began firing peranite shards from his arm as he ran over, laying down cover fire for Helen to break away. He knew she didn’t need long. The group took up a defensive formation with the bulkier members at the edges and the ranged fighters in the middle. Roman body slammed a vulpimancer, keeping it away from Pierce, and Argit hopped up on his shoulders alongside Planch to get a few clean shots at the beast. Planch cheered, voicing Roman’s relief. He didn’t think Argit was going to be a very useful ally but so far he was pulling his own weight.

But the fight was far from over. There were at least two dozen vulpimancers here- they were outnumbered at least two to one- and they just kept coming. Massive, lean forms with orange pelts, paws armed with deadly claws, and maws filled with sharp teeth just kept coming at him. Muscle couldn’t break a mineral as hard as peranite but still, it was terrifying. Especially since Planch and Argit were relying on him for protection and these creatures could easily swallow either one in a single gulp.

Teeth came down on his leg. He glanced down, watching the vulpimacher’s ugly mouth widen and scream as pain shot through its gums. Roman slammed his elbow down on its head, stunning it, and kicked it away.

“Way to go, Princey,” Argit cheered, firing a few quills after the canine for good measure. “You got ‘im good!”

“Don’t call me that,” Roman murmured. He knew it was probably too quiet for Argit to hear but he didn’t really want to be distracted by conversation when another Vulpimancer was running at him. Luckily, someone else nailed it before it had a chance to slash at his clothing.

Helen sped up to it and reared up, using her tail for balance, and boxed the vulpimancer clean out of the air with a solid kick. She landed neatly and turned to her friends. “Come on! I found a cave behind those rock formations!”

Roman spared a glance in the direction she’d come from. The terrain they were on was flat but there was craggier land not too far off.

“What are you waiting for?” Argit asked, tiny claws gripping the amalgam’s head. “Go!”

“Go, go, go!” Planch cried, ushering Roman onward. Roman bit back a complaint and hurried after Helen, the rest of his friends close behind. Pierce clung to the back of the group, keeping the vulpimancers at bay with a flurry of projectile attacks. How Pierce was so much more skilled with those things than Argit, Roman didn’t know but he was grateful.

The terrain shifted abruptly and Roman had to weave around large stones to keep on Helen’s tail. He was fairly certain they’d put some distance between them and the vulpimancers but he wasn’t positive and he wasn’t about to risk crashing into something just to look over his shoulder. Planch or Argit would warn him if there was something wrong.

As Helen promised, there was a cave nestled into a particularly large rock. The group didn’t hesitate to charge in. Roman could hear the vulpimancer wailing behind him but they stopped just before the decline at the entrance of the cave. Why? Roman didn’t know but he didn’t take it for granted. Maybe they didn’t like the idea of being enclosed or maybe they didn’t like the echoing or maybe they just didn’t like that the cave led underground. They were on a floating island so this tunnel surely led to the void if it went deep enough. That was a scary thought.

He slowed to a steady trot before stopping all together and doubling over to catch his breath. Petrosapiens were a durable species with high stamina but they really weren’t built for this much running. Roman could feel his lungs burning as he took in mouthfuls of the cool, underground air. Argit and Planch slid off his shoulders, relaxing now that the danger was gone, and flopped down on the earthy floor.

“I regret everything,” Pierce announced unceremoniously when the group began to catch their breath again. “I almost wish we’d just stayed back at the base. I hate it there but anything would be better than this.” 

Roman opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by an inhuman screech. His heart rate spiked and he jumped to his feet, leftover adrenaline coursing through his body. He wasn’t totally sure what was happening but everything in him was screaming at him to run. Manny and Helen were already scrambling back toward the mouth of the cave with the others close behind.

Roman sharpened his fist into a spike and fired daggers of peranite behind him as he ran. He was still tired from making the pillar before and he wasn’t really aiming but he heard a few satisfying screams behind him that told him his aim was true enough to do some damage.

They burst out of the cave, surprising the vulpimancers, and ran for their lives. Roman spared a glance over his shoulder and saw tall, muscular humanoids with gleaming red eyes pouring out onto the surface world. The vulpimancers roared and the two packs quickly engaged in battle. Roman allowed himself a satisfied smirk at the sight of the beasts clashing with each other but he quickly turned his attention back to his friends. He let himself fall to the back of the group alongside Manny, covering their tail while Helen took the lead.

The group was shaken and tired so they just ran to the only place their minds associated with safety. Roman really didn’t want to end up back at the ship but within half an hour, the group were back in their seats inside the ship. Remus draped his gooey form over Roman’s back as the petrosapien pulled his legs in close to cradle himself for comfort.

Numbness buzzed in the air. No one was really sure what to say. Roman wanted to step up and say something inspirational that would give them the fire to keep fighting. He was always the bold one. An optimist who knew how to take the lead. But right now he felt small. So, so small. And afraid. 

Everything was different and everything had changed so fast. He was homeless again and he wasn’t even on Earth this time. He was in this hellish wasteland filled with savage beasts and ruthless criminals waiting to slit his throat and feast on his innards. Or harvest his body and forge it into weapons. Roman forgot he was made of crystal more than he should have. But that didn’t matter now, did it?

Eventually, it was Argit who broke the silence. He didn’t even say anything. He just snapped his fingers a couple of times and suddenly everyone broke out of their daze.

“We need shelter,” Manny spoke, voice cracking. He cleared his throat, sat up straighter, and tried again. “We need shelter. The ship is nice but it’s not going to cut it if the Havok Beasts and vulpimancers come back.”

Havok Beasts, that’s what those cave dwellers were called. Roman felt a flash of comfort that they at least had this little bit of knowledge. Knowledge was good. It meant they weren’t going to die out here. It seemed no one else shared his sentiments though.

“We need this ship,” Kevin argued. He tensed, like he was going to get to his feet, then slumped back again. He didn’t need to stand up to seem tough. They were all cold and scared right now. Kevin had nothing to prove. “The ship has resources. I think we lost some of the stuff we grabbed when we ran but we’ve still got a good deal of it and maybe we can get it working again.”

“We don’t have a fuel supply,” Remus pointed out.

“We still might be able to scrap it and trade parts off to some farming asteroids,” Helen pointed out, whisking her tail in her seat. “I remember Agent Swift mentioning there are some peaceful settlers here. Maybe they’ll be willing to help us.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, pondering her idea. Slowly, a plan began forming in Roman’s mind. Jumping between islands, rationing what they had, mapping out the Null Void… Yeah, it could work. “I think that’s the best idea.”

Kevin’s face remained neutral as he folded his hands in thought. “It’s not a perfect plan.”

“There is no perfect plan!” Alan snapped, embers sparking from his fingertips. Manny put a hand on his shoulder and the Pyronite took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Softer, he said, “If we know there are a few safe places in here, wouldn’t it be dumb to not try to find them? Even if it doesn’t work, it’s worth a shot.”

“We don’t even know where they are. None of us have left the base before now.”

“I have?” Argit spoke up hesitantly. All eyes were suddenly on him. He pulled on his ears nervously. “I mean, I don’t know where anything is but the Planchakule might.”

“Farm!” Planch shouted, dancing on Roman’s head manically, his little toes clicking against his peranite skin. “Farm, farm, farm!”

“It sounds like he knows where a farm is,” Remus said helpfully. Planch grinned widely at him and nodded.

Kevin sighed. “Okay fine. I guess I’m on board.”

Roman smiled, feeling a flash of hope for the first time since they got here. “Then that settles it. Everyone, grab whatever you can. Planch, you’re leading the way!”

“Lead! Lead, lead, lead!”

“I feel like this is a mistake,” Pierce grumbled into his hands but got to his feet and began regathering supplies with the others without any more complaint. They were going to survive this. They just had to stick together.


End file.
